Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor for the City of New York Bridget G. Brennan, Special Narcotics Prosecutor

80 CENTRE STREET, SIXTH FLOOR NEW YORK, NY 10013 212-815-0400, GEN. 212-815-0440, FAX

PRESS RELEASE
Tuesday, December 5th, 2006
Magda Gandasegui, Director of Public Information
mgandasegui@specnarc.org
(212) 815-0525

ONE THOUSAND POUNDS OF COCAINE SEIZED
— THE LARGEST SEIZURE THIS YEAR —
AND SIX ARRESTS

Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan announced the largest cocaine seizure this year – more than one thousand pounds. Six men accused of conspiring to smuggle the narcotics into New York City were arrested.

During the past weekend, members of the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force (NYDETF) seized a shipment of 1,045 pounds of cocaine from an 18-wheeler tractor trailer parked next to a warehouse at 505 South River Street in Hackensack, New Jersey. The NYDETF -- comprised of officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration, New York City Police Department, and New York State Police worked with prosecutors and investigators from the New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office on the investigation. The street value of the cocaine is 42 million dollars.

The narcotics were destined for distribution in New York City. The drug shipment, hauled by a 1999 42-foot tractor trailer with Georgia license plates and bearing a Georgia logo, was concealed in an elaborate compartment at the base of the trailer. To conceal the narcotics, metal rails and sheathing running underneath the trailer were detached, and bricks of cocaine were secreted beneath at least 30 of the bays underneath the trailer. The rails and sheathing were then re-bolted to the sides of the trailer. It took hours for agents to extract the cocaine from the underside of the trailer.

The defendants, five of whom are Texas residents, are being held by New Jersey authorities while extradition procedures are completed. The sixth defendant, Nahum Goigochea, whose 1998 Ford Windstar was also recovered at the warehouse, is from Manhattan. They are all charged with top narcotics offenses.

The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office and the Hackensack Sheriff’s Department participated in the investigation.

Those arrested are: