More Than 580 Pounds Of Cocaine Seized In Queens Drug Bust

QUEENS, NY — A 35-year-old New Jersey man was arrested last week after police seized more than 580 pounds of suspected cocaine outside a self-storage facility in Long Island City.

The drugs have an estimated street value of more than $10 million, police said.

Nelson Salcedo is charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first and third Degrees following an investigation into high-level cocaine trafficking between New York City and New Jersey.

According to the criminal complaint, investigators had been monitoring Salcedo for roughly two weeks after observing him make cocaine-related deliveries in Manhattan near the northern end of Central Park.

On August 26, police found a van to a self-storage facility at 41-02 Northern Boulevard in Long Island City.

After Salcedo allegedly loaded some boxes into the van, officers detained him.

A court-authorized search subsequently uncovered 147 brick-shaped packages of suspected cocaine inside 12 boxes in the vehicle and another 83 packages in seven boxes on the ground nearby.

“This seizure of 266 kilograms of cocaine, with an estimated street value of $10 million, represents the NYPD’s largest cocaine bust in at least a decade,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said. “This enormous takedown is the direct result of the painstaking work carried out by the members of the NYPD. Thanks to our investigators and our law enforcement partners in this case, these drugs will never make it onto the streets of New York City.”