JACKSON HEIGHTS — Two alleged drug smugglers drove to Queens from Texas with nearly $3 million worth of cocaine shoved into their SUV’s spare tire, according to the Queens district attorney’s office.
The bust is the latest in a larger narcotics investigation in Jackson Heights, officials said.
Felipe Estacio-Ortiz, 63, and Jose Luis Ortiz-Garcia, 44, both of Houston, were pulled over by police at 6:15 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 14 at the intersection of 97th Avenue and 75th Street in Jamaica, police said.
Estacio-Ortiz was driving a white Nissan Armada, police said, with Ortiz-Garcia in the front seat.
The car was brought to the 115th Precinct in Jackson Heights and, after receiving a court-ordered search warrant, police found six packages of cocaine wrapped in electrical tape and hidden in the spare tire in the back of the car.
The packages contained 400 ounces — or 26 pounds — of cocaine, which is worth around $2,940,000 on the street, according to the Queens DA.
Officials said the pair had met up with Augustina Masea Baez, 51, of Jamaica, as part of their plan to distribute the drugs.
“Drug dealers should be forewarned — Queens is not the place to import illegal narcotics or to sell them,” DA Richard Brown said in a statement.
The three were charged with first and third-degree drug possession and conspiracy, and face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
It's the latest bust centered around the 115th Precinct and Jackson Heights, which was known in the 1980s and 1990s as a central location in the drug trade.
Last month, officials took $14 million in heroin hidden in a pickup truck driving around Jackson Heights, police said.
And in November, two Texas women were arrested in Brooklyn driving a U-Haul truck with $4.2 million in cocaine hidden in the cab, officials said. They were brought to Queens as part of the larger investigation.
