TRENTON Law enforcement officials made two arrests and seized $125,000 worth of cocaine, with one of the men stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike in East Windsor, Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini Jr. announced Thursday.
Mr. Bocchini said in a press release that earlier this month his Special Investigations Unit, the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Camden Field Division and law enforcement authorities in Long Island, N.Y. began investigating a cocaine distribution operation that was transporting cocaine from Long Island to the Trenton area.
Luis Fernandez, 37, of Trenton, was identified as a cocaine courier and his 2002 Chevy Avalanche truck was identified as the transport vehicle, Mr. Bocchini said.
The prosecutor also said:
On Monday, detectives and agents followed Mr. Fernandez as he drove from Trenton to a residence in Copiague, N.Y. Detectives and agents then followed him after he left the residence carrying a large bag that he placed in the rear of the truck. Subsequently, Mr. Fernandez was stopped by the New Jersey State Police and SIU detectives on the Turnpike. Detectives then utilized Rome, Mercer County SIU’s drug-sniffing K-9, to conduct a search of the truck. Rome indicated the odor of narcotics coming from the vehicle and detectives then applied for a search warrant.
A search of the truck revealed two kilograms of powder cocaine in a compartment in the rear of the vehicle, and Mr. Fernandez also was found in possession of $2,903 in cash, the prosecutor said.
He was charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance and possession with the intent to distribute. He was being held at the Mercer County Correction Center in Hopewell in lieu of $250,000 bail.
On Tuesday, New York authorities executed search warrants at the residence in Copiague, where half a kilogram of cocaine was seized and Osvaldo Baez, 40, was arrested, the prosecutor reported.
Members of the Robbinsville Police Department, the West Windsor Police Department, the Ewing Police Department, the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office and the state Division of Criminal Justice assisted in the investigation.
