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On Monday, Nov. 28, around 6:30 p.m., members of the federal Drug Enforcement Agency's Group D-42, which includes detectives from the WCPD, conducted surveillance in Queens and observed the suspect enter his car with what appeared to be a weighed shopping bag, and then followed him as he drove to the West Farms neighborhood of the Bronx, according to an announcement by police on Friday, Dec. 16.
When he parked, agents and police officers from Group D-42 then approached the car and found the suspect with a bag containing around $50,000 in cash.
The suspect, identified as Queens resident Reynaldo Almonte, was then taken along with his vehicle to the DEA New York Division’s Westchester Resident Office, where his vehicle was searched with the help of a Westchester Police narcotics detection canine and handler. From this search, authorities found a "hidden trap compartment" in the rear passenger cabin, and inside found six kilogram-sized packages wrapped in plastic along with around $7,000 in cash, police said.
One of the packages, which were all found to contain around $300,000 in cocaine, had an image of President Joe Biden, while others had a photo of a cat and the letters "AMG," according to authorities.
Almonte was then arrested and charged with first and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, police said. He was released on a $300,000 partially secured bail bond on Thursday, Dec. 8.
DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank Tarentino said that cocaine traffickers will often brand their products using pop culture images.
"These six kilograms would be repackaged into thousands of baggies sold on our New York City streets. DEA saves lives every single day with seizures like this which prevented traffickers from mixing and selling a deadly fentanyl and cocaine cocktail," Tarentino added.
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