Dujuan Soto was charged with drug trafficking charges after police discovered more than 40 pounds of drugs hidden inside his apartment, next to the Bronx (NYC) criminal court.
Soto, 56, pleaded “not guilty” at his arraignment in Manhattan Supreme Court on Wednesday to multiple charges, including operating as a major drug trafficker and illegal possession of drugs and weapons. His arrest was ordered with a $3 million dollar bail.
Authorities said they found $3 million worth of drugsincluded fentanyl, cocaine, and methamphetamine, along with loaded guns inside the Soto home, adjacent to the Bronx Family Criminal Court on East 161st Street, between Sheridan and Sherman avenues.
Soto was arrested on March 29 after a brief investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the New York Policeaccording to the city’s Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor.
The day of his arrest, officers and agents searched his Jeep and found inside a blue bag a package from the United States Postal Service (USPS) with approximately $216,500 Dollarssuspected drug money.
Inside the apartment, officers found more than 17 pounds of fentanyl and more than six pounds of cocaine, which had a Mercedes symbol printed on them, in a locked cabinet in a bedroom, authorities said.
Investigators also recovered 15 pounds of methamphetamine and over 1,000 counterfeit oxycodone and alprazolam pills suspected to contain fentanyl, packaged in freezer bags. They also seized two loaded 9mm pistols and extra ammunition under Soto’s bed.
They also recovered from the apartment another $107,100 in cash, a money counter, digital scales, a vacuum sealer, and five-pound presses used to pack narcotics, authorities said.
“The volume and variety of drugs, and the hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and two firearms recovered, indicate that it was a fully operational distribution and packaging center for illegal drugs,” special narcotics prosecutor Bridget Brennan said in a statement.
“It is hard to imagine a place bolder than a building adjacent to the Bronx Family and Criminal Court. to install a warehouse of deadly drugs such as fentanyl, methamphetamine and counterfeit pills that are saturating the black market in our city, “added the prosecutor, indicated New York Post.
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