Massive Amount of Cocaine Worth About $10 Million Seized as 35-Year-Old Taken Into Custody

A New Jersey man was arrested after authorities seized approximately 266 kilograms — more than 580 lbs — of cocaine in a massive drug bust. The drugs have an estimated street value of $10 million.

New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced at a press conference held Friday, August 28, that this was the “NYPD’s largest cocaine seizure in at least a decade.”

At approximately 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday, investigators observed 12 brown cardboard boxes inside a van and another seven on the ground beside it, Tisch said at the press conference. A K-9 alerted authorities of the presence of narcotics.

Nelson Salcedo, 35, of Englewood, New Jersey, was allegedly seen loading boxes into a van at a self-storage facility in Long Island City.

“Think about the scale of what was intercepted here,” Tisch said. “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 neighborhoods.”

Officials said the drugs would likely have been mixed with other substances, including the deadly fentanyl, before being sold.

Tisch said the seizure was the result of months-long investigation.

Salcedo was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree and in the third degree, authorities stated.

He was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court earlier this week. It is unclear if he has entered a plea or retained a lawyer to speak on his behalf.

Two additional men have also been arrested in connection to the cocaine seizure, ABC 7 reported.

The investigation remains ongoing.