CRIME
Police Find Cocaine, $3 Million Hidden In ‘Trap Compartments’ In NYC Apartment
Drug Enforcement Administration
More than 26 pounds of cocaine and $3 million in cash was found stashed in secret trap compartments in the New York City apartment used by a major drug trafficker, authorities said.
Juan Rondon, 60, was arrested on March 20 following a two-month investigation and charged with operating as a major trafficker and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first and third Degrees, the city’s Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor said Friday.
Investigators with the SNP along with the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force, which includes officers and agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, New York State Police and New York City Police Department, surveilled a Bronx apartment building and observed Rondon’s comings and goings.
On the day of the arrest, investigators stopped Rondon in the lobby of 3405 Gates Place in the Norwood neighborhood of the Bronx, where he was allegedly in possession of cocaine along with keys to an apartment. A search of the apartment revealed furniture outfitted with hidden trap compartments.
Dressers, nightstands, and a coffee table contained large hidden compartments stuffed with bags of cash. Money was wrapped in bundles and labeled with dates spanning the past several years, the SNP said in a statement.
Investigators found more than 26 pounds of cocaine, more than $3 million in cash, and 10 luxury watches in the apartment, which appeared to lack security equipment or fortifications.
“This investigation shows how lucrative the cocaine trafficking business can be. Over a span of years, an accused major trafficker apparently squirreled away more than $3 million, filling secret compartments inside furniture to the brim with bundles of cash wrapped together in rubber bands, expensive watches, and kilograms of cocaine. An absence of special security equipment or fortified locks on the nondescript apartment suggests misguided confidence, said Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan.
A multi-million-dollar drug den looked like any ordinary apartment until our agents and investigators uncovered hidden compartments in various pieces of furniture filled with contraband, said DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank Tarentino.
These charges reflect New York Citys latest multiagency effort to hold accountable those allegedly responsible for flooding our neighborhoods with illicit drugs, said NYPD Commissioner Edward A. Caban. NYPD investigators greatly value our partnership with the citys Special Narcotics Prosecutor, the New York State Police, and the DEA, and I commend every member of the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force for their ongoing commitment to our shared mission of keeping New Yorkers in every community safe.
TMX contributed to this article.
