$42 Million of Coke Seized On Way to NYC

It won't be a White Christmas for some people. Yesterday, the Drug Enforcement Agency, along with the NYPD and NY State Police announced a tractor trailer carrying 1,045 pounds of cocaine bound for the Big Apple was seized in NJ. It was the biggest cocaine bust this year, with a street value of $42 million, and the truck was sitting next to a warehouse in Hackensack. From the DEA's press release:

The narcotics were destined for distribution in New York City. The drug shipment, hauled by a 1999 42-foot tractor trailer with Georgia license plates and bearing a Georgia logo, was concealed in an elaborate compartment at the base of the trailer. To conceal the narcotics, metal rails and sheathing running underneath the trailer were detached, and bricks of cocaine were secreted beneath at least 30 of the bays underneath the trailer. The rails and sheathing were then re-bolted to the sides of the trailer. It took hours for agents to extract the cocaine from the underside of the trailer.

That's pretty elaborate! NYC Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said, "We used to see narcotics confiscations as big as this one five or eight years ago."

Six people were arrested - all were from Texas, except for one NYC resident - and charged with major narcotics offenses. And last week, the DEA and NYPD busted different meth labs in the city.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on December 6, 2006 8:28 AM

Comments [rss]

SugarCane

How will I lose all the holiday wieght if there is no schmutz???

Great, now I'll just have to throw up.

ed_Extinct

surely you mean "buzz"kil-o

Kojak

"it's burned at such an extreme temp that theirs barely any smoke"

Jeaz... Talk about a Buzzkill.

Killjoys

ed_Extinct

downwind? it's burned at such an extreme temp that theirs barely any smoke. marijuana is also burned at very high temps all furnaces have filters. the furnace used is very much like a crematorium.

Elderta

I've seen photographs of giant pot piles burning... it made me want to cry.

As for the coke, ugh, the smell... nasty.

lani

Do they burn large weed busts too, bc I want to be around for that

Kojak

"they burn it."

Is it still a crime to hang around downwind from where they're burning it?

ed_Extinct

'How does the DEA destroy all that cocaine?'

they burn it.

Jack

The question is, how on earth did they know to look for it there?

Tyrone Biggums

So that has to come out to like 3000 to 5000 pounds of crack right? Now thats music to my ears

MW

1000 lbs of pure coke has to amount to more than 1000 lbs of crack. You have to remember to cut it! Hello. Where are Pete and Kate when you need them?

Tyrone Biggums

'How does the DEA destroy all that cocaine?'

1,000 Pound Free Crack Giveaway????

Elderta

But damn... 1,000 pounds? That's still a mindblowing amount of cocaine, whether other trucks get through or not.

How does the DEA destroy all that cocaine?

ed_Extinct

i remember there was a bigger bust last year. my friend, a narcotics agent, told me that it didn't make a dent. no one noticed. street value remained the same... sadly, busts like tise are a joke, if not a decoy.

tien

it's probably even higher than that kojak.

Kojak

As big as this bust is, they're still way behind. For every tractor trailer like this that they catch, 3 more get through. Although this statistic was pulled out of my ass, I think its not too far fetched.