A massive fentanyl operation has been dismantled in the Bronx, leading to the arrest of six individuals allegedly in the middle of drug production. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York revealed yesterday, that these arrests transpired in an apartment which reportedly contained over eight kilograms of apparent fentanyl, with potential street value running into millions of dollars. According to the unsealed complaint, the defendants, all natives of the Dominican Republic and present in the U.S. without legal status, were caught with thousands of individual packages of the narcotic ready for sale.
Charged with conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute narcotics, the defendants—Jesus Javier Brito Rivera, Jose Alexis De La Cruz Mora, Jose Antonio De La Cruz Mora, Dany Rivera Sanchez, Joan Alberto Toribio Tavarez, and Freddys Rivera Quezada—were allegedly operating this drug mill for at least a year. “As alleged, these defendants were caught in the act of packaging and preparing to distribute enough fentanyl to potentially amount to four million deadly doses,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton stated in a press release. Upon the DEA’s raid of the apartment, agents discovered drug paraphernalia, including scales, grinders, and stamps indicative of a substantial drug distribution network.
The operation identified the Bronx as a location used by drug traffickers to distribute fentanyl throughout the Northeast. “Once again, the DEA and our law enforcement partners successfully shut down a fentanyl mill, resulting in the arrests of six illegal, alleged criminal drug traffickers, and the removal of approximately eight kilograms of fentanyl powder from an apartment building in the Bronx,” DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank A. Tarentino stated in the same press release. The cooperation between local and federal agencies reflects an ongoing effort to address fentanyl distribution in the region…