Disturbing cartel ties uncovered after suspect Nelson Salcedo arrested with 580 pounds of cocaine in Queens

“I AM JUST MOVING SOME CARDBOARD BOXES IN MY VAN”!!! BELIEVE IT OR NOT, POLICE SAY NELSON SALCEDO WAS CAUGHT HAULING 586 POUNDS OF CARTEL-LINKED COCAINE OUT OF A QUEENS STORAGE FACILITY… AND HE HAS NOW BEEN ARRAIGNED ON MULTIPLE FELONY DRUG CHARGES IN MANHATTAN.

Police announced the massive narcotics bust on Friday.

Authorities seized 580 pounds of cartel-tied cocaine stashed inside a Long Island City storage unit.

Officials characterized the operation as the largest cocaine seizure in decades.

The seized narcotics carry an estimated street value of $10 million.

Nelson Salcedo, a 35-year-old resident of Englewood, New Jersey, was arrested on Wednesday.

Police said Salcedo was taken into custody in the middle of moving the contraband.

Investigators allege the illicit shipment was tied to an expansive drug trafficking enterprise.

“This was a massive shipment of narcotics, tied to an interstate trafficking network with connections across the country, including in New York and New Jersey. And because of the work of the investigators standing with me today, those drugs will never make it into the streets of New York City,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch.

Investigators were first alerted to Salcedo’s alleged activities while tailing other suspected drug traffickers, Tisch said.

Those suspects had allegedly been transporting narcotics between New Jersey and Upper Manhattan.

During that phase of the investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration uncovered 33 pounds of cocaine in Fort Lee.

Federal agents in Fort Lee also seized a firearm and $170,000 in cash.

On August 12, law enforcement personnel began trailing Salcedo directly.

According to prosecutors, Salcedo repeatedly removed cardboard boxes from a Public Storage building located in Queens.

He allegedly transported the boxes on Wednesday evenings to a spot situated near the northern edge of Central Park.

Prosecutors stated that Salcedo completed suspected runs on August 12 and August 19.

Then came August 26.

Salcedo was loading a Nissan van to conduct another suspected delivery when police moved in.

The van was registered to an elevator repair business whose name was withheld by police.

Officers found 12 cardboard boxes packed inside the vehicle when Salcedo was handcuffed.

Another seven boxes were discovered resting on the ground right next to the van.

Inside the boxes, authorities counted 230 brick-shaped packages containing suspected cocaine.

In total, the seized contraband weighed 586 pounds, police said.

Initial field testing verified that the substance was cocaine.

A formal NYPD laboratory analysis remains pending.

The recovered bricks appeared to be pure, and the DEA stated that the broader inquiry traces back to the cartel.

Officials confirmed the bust represents the NYPD’s largest cocaine haul in at least ten years.

It also stands as the largest cocaine confiscation by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor in more than two decades.

“Think about the scale of what was intercepted here: more than a quarter of a metric ton of cocaine sitting in boxes and ready to move through an illegal distribution network. That is an enormous quantity of narcotics that will never be broken down, that will never be packaged, sold or distributed in our neighborhood,” said Tisch.

Salcedo and two other individuals have been arrested so far in connection with the sting.

Yet the individual who received the previous shipments has not been arrested.

Salcedo was formally arraigned in Manhattan criminal court.

He faces charges of first-degree Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance.

He is also charged with second-degree Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance.

The charges are allegations and have not been proven in court.