NEW YORK, Aug. 26 (UPI) — Two men were arrested and more than 65 pounds of heroin worth $2.3 million was seized after a three-month investigation uncovered drugs hidden in a tractor-trailer axle, authorities said.
Prosecutors said Fernando Quiles, 47, and Jorge Ayala, 33, coordinated the 30-kilogram drug shipment in the truck to cross the border from Mexico into Texas and travel to Croton-on-Hudson, a quiet village in Westchester County, N.Y. The men had rented a home to park the truck and stash the drugs, investigators said.
“Members of this sophisticated and well-funded narcotics trafficking organization undoubtedly believed they were home free when the drugs concealed inside the axle went undetected at border crossings and in a trans-continental journey,” Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan said.
“To further protect their investment, they off-loaded the trailer in a wooded residential area 30 miles from New York City. Due to the expertise of the investigative team, the defendants were arrested, their $2 million load was seized, and more than half a million packets of potentially lethal heroin were prevented from hitting the streets.”
In the weeks leading up to the arrests and seizure, investigators with New York City’s Special Narcotics Prosecutor and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s New York Division listened in on phone calls between the two men. In one call, on Aug. 13, Quiles, of Fort Worth, Texas, allegedly told Ayala, of Greenwich, Conn., he needed a place to park a “trailer for at least one day.” In another conversation Quiles said the drugs could sell for about $57,000 per kilogram.
After both men were arrested, DEA agents spent hours using heavy equipment to get to the drugs, which had been stashed in the hollow truck axle and welded shut. Both men face charges that include criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminally using drug paraphernalia. They are being held without bail.
