NYPD seizes 266 kg of cocaine worth $10 mln, largest haul in a decade

New York police seized 266 kg of cocaine worth an estimated $10 million from a Queens storage facility, the department’s largest cocaine seizure in at least a decade, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said on Friday.

Investigators stopped a Nissan van near the Long Island City facility on Wednesday after watching boxes being loaded into it, Tisch said.

A search uncovered 19 boxes containing about 266 one-kilogram packages of cocaine.

“More than a quarter of a metric ton of cocaine” had been poised to move through an illegal distribution network, Tisch said.

Three people have been taken into custody.

Nelson Salcedo, 35, of Englewood, New Jersey, was charged with first- and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday, prosecutors said.

The Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office said it was its largest cocaine seizure in more than two decades.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Lisa Tompkins said cocaine is present in more than half of all overdose deaths in New York City, often mixed with fentanyl or other substances.

A DEA official said the investigation traces back to a cartel and authorities expect more arrests and seizures in future.