Puerto Rico To NYC Drug Ring Smuggled Cocaine In Lunchboxes: Feds

NEW YORK CITY — A Puerto Rico to New York City drug smuggling ring used children's lunchboxes to ferry at least 66 pounds of cocaine onto the mainland, authorities said.

The suspected ringleader — Carlos Duarte, 36, a Yonkers man known as "Showtime" — was arrested Wednesday by members of drug task force comprised of DEA agents and NYPD officers, according to an Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor release.

Duarte along with Alexis Garcia — a 41-year-old Bronx man known as "Ale G" who's one of five suspects charged in the case — both work as managers representing recording artists in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, authorities said. Both are residents of New York. Their frequent travel for those jobs served as a cover for drug smuggling, prosecutors said.

During a months-long probe, investigators found children's lunchboxes stuffed with cocaine had been sent by USPS mail, authorities said.

“Concealing narcotic drugs in children’s lunchboxes was the modus operandi for this organization," Bridget G. Brennan, special narcotics prosecutor, said in a statement. "If this tactic was designed to throw off law enforcement, it did not work. I commend the excellent investigation conducted with our partners for putting it out of business."

Postal inspectors found about 100 packages had been shipped since May 2020 to New York and Massachusetts, authorities said.

"Often, the named recipients were either fictitious or were actual individuals not associated with the address," a release states. "Frequently, the return addresses were in New York, despite the packages originating in Puerto Rico. At least two packages bore the return address of a luxury clothing boutique in Upper Manhattan."

Other suspects charged in the case are Wesley Coddington, 43, of Queens, Raul Sweeney, 27, of the Bronx, and Bryan Centeno-Rosado, 23, of the Bronx.

All suspects face drug-related charges.