Photo Courtesy of the Office
of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor
Authorities recovered
nearly 9 pounds of fentanyl
wrapped inside a shipment of fish.
By Forum Staff
Queens Narcotics Major Case Squad detectives recently recovered four kilograms of fentanyl (nearly 9 pounds) wrapped inside a shipment of fish, according to authorities.
The detectives recovered the lethal synthetic opioid on Thursday, Feb. 1, from a vehicle near the intersection of Leland Avenue and Archer Street in the Parkchester neighborhood of the Bronx.
According to City Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan, the narcotics were initially suspected to be cocaine, but subsequent laboratory analysis by the NYPD revealed that the drug recovered was fentanyl.
Investigators arrested the driver of the vehicle, Johnny De Los Santos-Martinez. The 35-year-old Dominican Republic native was arraigned the following day on a complaint charging him with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first and third degrees. Bail was set at $150,000 cash or $250,000 bond. His next court date is Feb. 28.
According to officials, prior to the arrest, detectives were conducting surveillance on De Los Santos-Martinez as part of an investigation into drug trafficking in the city when they saw him in a 2017 white Acura MDX with two boxes in the back seat. The cops obtained a court-authorized search warrant for the packages and the vehicle and commenced to probe.
Inside both boxes were Styrofoam coolers. The larger of the two coolers contained fish wrapped around two brick shaped packages covered in green plastic, with a third brick-shaped package concealed in a vacuum-sealed package of what appeared to be chili. The second cooler contained one brick shaped package similarly wrapped with green plastic and fish.
The packages each consisted of a kilogram of fentanyl and together could have yielded more than a million doses worth up to $10 million on the street, Brennan noted.
