Fries and dip – with a side of coke.
A Bronx man was arrested on drug charges after a 110-pound stash of cocaine was found inside a truck carrying party snacks, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Jose Delacruz, 57, was indicted in Manhattan Supreme Court on a series of drug-related charges after the huge shipment of cocaine – estimated at $1.25million – was intercepted in Virginia in October last, hidden in boxes of lentil chips and a queso dip.
Delacruz allegedly arranged for his cousin, Luis Delacruz, to drive the bulk drug shipment from Texas to New York, prosecutors said.
“Let’s see if we can recover this weekend, so I can be in the warehouse by Tuesday-Wednesday,” Delacruz reportedly told his relative in a September 30 tapped call.
A few days later, prosecutors said Delacruz had received several calls from Luis – some of them coded – telling him to prepare to retrieve the hideout in an undisclosed location around October 9th.
“Saturday, be on the lookout for where I can stop at one of these places, and you can go in a cab and pick up the girl,” Luis allegedly said on the call, using “girl” as a code word. for cocaine.
Before the shipment even reached the Big Apple, authorities arrested Luis as he pulled into a truck stop in Raphine, Va., in the early hours of October 6.
The cocaine was found hidden in two duffel bags inside the truck that was carrying boxes of food items, including crisps and dip, prosecutors said.
A subsequent raid on Delacruz’s apartment in the Bronx reportedly uncovered approximately $24,600 in cash, a kilo press used to shape drug bricks, and a money counter.
Investigators said a trap compartment hidden in the floor of Delacruz’s bathroom was empty – but smelled strongly of cocaine.
“The less than dynamic Delacruz duo would have thought they could evade law enforcement by speaking to each other in code and trying to conceal 50 kilograms of cocaine in a truck carrying snacks – but they were wrong,” said Ricky J. Patel, Homeland. Acting Special Agent of Security in charge.
Delacruz was taken into custody on January 11 on charges of acting as a major trafficker, second-degree conspiracy, and first- and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. His bail was set at $300,000.
Her cousin was also arrested and faces federal charges in Virginia, prosecutors said.
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