Two Puerto Rican men were arrested on Thursday in what is being touted as New York's biggest drug bust in recent years. During the raid, $3 million worth of cocaine was seized, after it was transported from Boston as part of a major drug trafficking network.
Xavier Herbert Gumbs, 24, was a passenger in a rental car that was pulled over and allegedly contained 110 pounds of cocaine pressed into bricks with brand names, according to CBS New York. He was arrested at the scene. An hour later, 23-year-old Mark Soto was spotted by officers taking a duffle bag out of his vehicle. His vehicle was searched and he was arrested for allegedly possessing an additional 26 pounds of the substance.
The two men were each charged with four counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first and third degrees, according to Reuters. Bail was set at $400,000 for each defendant.
"This is the largest cocaine seizure that our office has made in recent years," said Kati Cornell, spokeswoman for New York's Special Narcotics Prosecutor. "Recently, we've seen a lot more large seizures of heroin, so this case is certainly unusual."
"The sheer amount of cocaine seized in this case is staggering," New York City's Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan said, according to ABC News. "This is the largest seizure of cocaine being transported in the region that our office has handled in recent years."
In November, authorities announced a $748 million cocaine seizure in the Eastern Pacific, and that is still lauded as the most successful counter-narcotics operation in the region since 2009.
"The violence associated with cocaine trafficking and the illicit proceeds poses a major threat to our communities' welfare," said Glenn Sorge, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations, according to ABC News. "HSI remains at the forefront of combating criminal organizations that threaten our homeland by smuggling drugs into the United States."
