A former New York City taxi driver was found to have ten pounds of methamphetamine in the trunk of the borrowed car that he was driving on Jan. 19.
The substance was believed to be crystal methamphetamine, although this has yet to confirmed by laboratory tests. If it is, as agents suspect, the illegal drug methamphetamine, its street value would have been be upwards of $800,000.
The officers also found four grams of cocaine in the car.
Camilo-Nelasco, from the Bronx, New York., held a taxi license in New York City, but it expired in 2011, a spokesperson for the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission told NJ.com.
He applied for a new license in 2015 but his application was rejected.
This is the second major methamphetamine bust in the area in the past six months.
On Aug. 29, 2017, a group of officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), New York City Police Department (NYPD), Southern District of New York U.S. Attorney’s Office, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested five men who were trying to smuggle methamphetamine cast into 1,300 pounds of wax candles.
Undercover officers infiltrated the operation and the various agencies made the arrest in a warehouse in New Jersey where the gang was planning to convert the candles back into crystal meth.
Massive MS-13 Arrest
On Thursday, Jan. 11, law enforcement made another arrest dealing a blow to drug traffickers in the New York area and beyond. Following a seven-month joint investigation by the DEA and the Nassau District Attorney’s office, 17 suspected MS-13 gang members were arraigned in Long Island’s Nassau County Court on charges ranging from drug trafficking to murder.
One million dollars worth of heroin was seized in that series of arrests.