A luxury apartment in Lower Manhattan was discovered to be the unlikely base of a masked drug operation moving cocaine and methamphetamines.
After drug enforcement agents conducted surveillance of the Hell’s Kitchen building earlier this week, a court authorized search of the W. 54 St. apartment uncovered approximately 30 pounds of meth and more than 8 pounds of coke packed in a suitcase inside the bedroom closet.
The drug den was located in the Mercedes House, an S-shaped luxury rental building with cascading floors of glass and steel, and the two-bedroom corner terrace unit with floor-to-ceiling windows rents for more than $7,400 a month, as stated on the building’s website.
The agents arrested two suspects and seized the large supply, which reportedly has a street value of more than $1 million, according to authorities.
Agents also found nearly $28,000 in cash in a backpack that was inside the closet.
The suspects arrested were Jovanny Salas, 29, from Denver, Colorado, and Sergio Betancourt Peralta, 34, from Manhattan. Both were charged with several counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Members of the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force were on the scene watching the 27th-floor apartment on Tuesday when they spotted Salas leaving the building right before 6 p.m., officials stated.
Reportedly, the agents and officers then apprehended him in the lobby and discovered a wallet on him that contained identification belonging to Peralta. The wallet also had a key attached to it, which would open the apartment that Salas had left.
Shortly after, agents came back with a search warrant and used the key to enter and raid the apartment where they found Peralta, who was then taken into custody.
“Our investigations take us all over New York City and the world, but this investigation led us to a million-dollar cocaine seizure in Hell’s Kitchen,” claimed DEA Special Agent in Charge Frank Tarentino. “DEA and our law enforcement partners are steadfast in bringing to justice to those responsible for pushing illegal drugs onto our streets.”
