'Escobar' Drug Bust: $20M In Narcotics Found In Harlem

HARLEM, NY — A drug raid in Harlem uncovered more than 77 ponds of heroin and fentanyl and $200,000 in cash, New York City’s special narcotics prosecutor announced Monday. Police arrested two people.

Ariel Hernandez and Luisuidyn Garcia Mena were taken into custody last week. Hernandez was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first and third degrees and Garcia Mena with conspiracy and false personation.

"The amount of fentanyl and heroin seized is a chilling reminder of the daunting threat lethal opioids pose to vulnerable substance users and those tempted to try readily available drugs," Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan said in a statement.

The two men met in a black 2019 Hyundai Santa Fe on Thursday, March 28 near West 145th Street and Amsterdam Avenue and investigators followed the pair to an apartment building on Lenox Avenue and West 141st Street, prosecutors said. Garcia Mena dropped Hernandez off at the building and was later stopped by agents from the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force.

Agents recovered $1,200 cash, two cellphones and two pieces of identification containing two different names in Garcia Mena's car, police said.

Hernandez was later arrested after leaving the public housing building and was carrying a backpack containing three kilograms of suspected heroin and fentanyl and keys to a 10th floor apartment in the building, prosecutors said. The special narcotics prosecutor got a warrant to search the apartment later that night.

Agents found about 70 pounds of drugs, several clear plastic bags filled with powder, $200,000 in cash, a money counter, drug records and a kilogram press, prosecutors said. The drugs were wrapped in kilogram-sized packages decked out with photos of notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar. Different packages were labeled "Pablo" and "Escobar," prosecutors said.

The street value of the drugs is an estimated $10.5 million to $20 million depending on the potency, prosecutors said.

"The NYPD and our law enforcement partners never stop working to intercept illegal drugs like heroin and fentanyl," NYPD Commissioner James P. O'Neill said. "These drugs are highly addictive, and they're deadly."