A man in the Bronx was arrested on July 6th after DEA agents and a team from the Office of Special Narcotics Prosecutor discovered the he had 52 kilos of cocaine “concealed in fake Latin American root vegetables,” otherwise known as delicious yucca.
The DEA states that police stopped Francisco Ramirez, 46, after they “observed suspicious activity” from him on his way to his automobile. Ultimately they searched him and his backpack where they discovered $100,000 in cash, 19 ounces of crack cocaine, eight glassine envelopes of heroin, five bags of cocaine, and a single bag of marijuana.
Agents then turned a K-9 to the trunk of Ramirez’s vehicle that turned up a second backpack stuffed with eight hollowed out plastic yuccas.
But that was just the beginning.
Reports Gothamist:
When the investigators, joined by the NYPD’s Bronx Narcotics team and Lexy the K-9, searched Ramirez’s apartment at 1264 Manor Avenue an hour later, they allegedly discovered “four large industrial sized laundry bags containing 96 fake hollowed out plastic yuccas,” and a field test showed the yuccas had cocaine. Further, “an excess of 500 grams of heroin, 20 grams of cocaine, a money counter, a scale, $225,000 in cash, empty vials and packaging materials in the apartment” were found.
“The extent that drug traffickers will go to make a profit from the sale of poison ceases to amaze me,” DEA Special Agent in Charge James J. Hunt. “For example, DEA has seized drugs concealed in random items such as chess pieces, tombstones, lollipops and live puppies.” Yes, puppies!
Ramirez, who lives across the street from an elementary school and near two other public schools, was booked on criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Hit the flip to peep what Ramirez was cooking up.
Photo: DEA Screenshot
