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A joint investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) New York Drug Enforcement Task Force (NYDETF), New Jersey State Police, and the Westchester District Attorney’s Office led to the seizure of millions of dollars worth of opiates and other narcotics, including alleged fentanyl in Mount Vernon.
Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah announced that in total, approximately 25,000 pills alleged to be fentanyl, many marked “M30,” and an estimated 38 kilograms of alleged narcotics including heroin, cocaine, and fentanyl were found packaged and ready for sale in an apartment in Mount Vernon.
In a separate search warrant executed at the same time at a residence in Yonkers, an estimated $35,000 in cash was seized. The substances have been sent to the DEA’s Northeast Regional Laboratory for analysis.
Rocah said that a suspect was arrested by New Jersey State Police in connection to the seized cash and drugs, and has been charged in Mount Vernon with two counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance.
“Two milligrams of fentanyl can cause death, and taking this large amount of fentanyl out of distribution has saved lives,” DEA Special Agent In Charge Ray Donovan said. This seizure is indicative of how traffickers are making street drugs highly potent and highly addictive by adding fentanyl.
“This is a warning that local traffickers vary methods of distribution, some selling only fentanyl and some selling mixtures of fentanyl and other drugs,” he continued. “Therefore, drug users beware, what you may think is one drug, is really laced with something more powerful and deadly.”
The suspect, whose name has not been released, is still awaiting extradition back to Westchester, the DA noted.
“Drug overdoses and overdose deaths are plaguing Westchester and our region. We are committed to doing everything we can to get drugs off of our streets and out of our communities and to help fight opiate addiction," Rocah said in a statement announcing the bust.
"We are grateful for the hard work of the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force – including the DEA, NYPD, and New York State Police – and the New Jersey State Police for helping us in this effort."
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