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Men indicted in $8.8 million drug hijacking

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: It was a matter of time before federal indictments would be returned against two men accused in connection with the hijacking of a truck loaded with $8.8 million worth of medications, once a middleman admitted his role in the scheme.

Photo Credit: Cliffview Pilot
Jerry DeMarco

Those indictments were handed down in Newark on Wednesday, naming the two Florida men.

Amed “Flaco” Rey Parra, 36, and 31-year-old Abimael Fuente, both of Hialeah, Fla., are charged with conspiracy to receive and sell the sanofi-aventis drugs, taken from a Georgia truck stop and driven to New Jersey.

In April, Luis Andres Faife-Ruiz of Union City pleaded guilty in federal court in Newark, admitting that he and Parra met the drivers at the rest stop on Oct. 14, 2009 and took the stolen shipment of Xyzal, Nasacort AQ, Benzaclin Gel, and Lovenox was turned over to the buyer for inspection.

Fuente then followed Faife-Ruiz’s car, and later that afternoon, a co-conspirator turned the stolen
shipment over to the buyer for inspection.

As the exchange of cash for drugs was being made, FBI agents swooped in, seized the shipment, and arrested Faife-Ruiz and Parra, among others.

United States Attorney Paul J. Fishman praised special agents of the FBI for making the case, which was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stacey A. Levine of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Health Care and Government Fraud Unit in Newark.

Sentencing for Faife-Ruiz is scheduled for July 12 but could be postponed, depending on how the case against the other two turns out.

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