Drug 100 Times Deadlier Than Fentanyl Seized In Queens Bust: DA

QUEENS, NY — A cross-country drug trafficking ring that peddled heroin, fentanyl and carfentanil – an opioid that's one of the most powerful in existence – has been busted in Queens, the borough's district attorney's office announced Thursday.

The nationwide drug enterprise relied on long-haul truck drivers to transport drugs from the southern border of California to a stash-house in Springfield Gardens, Queens, prosecutors said.

NYPD officers searching the stash-house in April seized 11 pounds of carfentanil and fentanyl, which prosecutors say marks the largest carfentanil seizure in the United States to date. The drug is 100 times more deadly than fentanyl, the DA's office said.

The sprawling, two-year investigation started in Woodside, where law enforcement officers honed in on alleged drug dealer and gun trafficker Julian Tovar, according to a press release from the Queens DA's office. In May 2018, officers seized five handguns, more than two pounds of cocaine and $11,000 in cash from Tovar's apartment and an AK-47 assault weapon from a secret compartment in his Jeep.

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The investigation into Tovar led law enforcement to White Plains resident Giovanny Arias, the alleged ringleader of the operation, according to the press release. Officers began tracking Arias' truck drivers as they transported heroin, cocaine, fentanyl, carfentanil and Ketamine to the Queens stash-house, where associates cut and repackaged the narcotics.

By tracking the drivers, police managed to seize cocaine and heroin hidden in a mini-fridge in the back seat of a car in Astoria, two pounds of Ketamine hidden in a secret compartment under the front seat of a truck stopped along the Van Wyck Expressway service road and over 1,500 fake oxycodone pills containing fentanyl from a truck stopped near the Tappan Zee Bridge.

The 11 alleged smugglers face trafficking, conspiracy and drug possession charges, prosecutors said. Five of the accused traffickers lived in Queens.

If convicted, they face up to 20 years to life in prison.