Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officials said three men have been indicted for their alleged role in participating in a drug trafficking conspiracy that resulted in the seizure of over one ton of cocaine.
Jorge Aponte-Guzman, Nelson Agramonte-Minaya, and Carlos Maisonet-Lopez were indicted – with the DEA indictment alleging on or about Sept. 29, 2021, Aponte-Guzman traveled in a rental van from a loading dock in New Jersey to the area of a New Jersey residence, where he was met by Maisonet-Lopez and Agramonte-Minaya.
Inside the rental van driven by Aponte-Guzman, law enforcement seized approximately 460 kilograms of cocaine packaged inside 10 large metal lawn rollers.
The next day DEA agents seized a similar shipment of 10 large metal lawn rollers from the loading dock that Aponte-Guzman had visited the day before, according to the DEA indictment.
In the second shipment, agents found an additional approximately 460 kilograms of cocaine, authorities noted.
“A multi-million dollar storm of cocaine was seized before it could wreak havoc in the Northeast,” Special Agent in Charge of the New York Division of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Ray Donovan said “Over one ton of cocaine was seized, making it the largest cocaine seizure destined for the streets of New York in over a decade. This seizure signifies a shift in the illegal drug landscape in New York with cocaine seizures rising more than 150 percent in the last year.”
The three men are charged with conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute at least five kilograms of cocaine. The charges carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.