JACKSON HEIGHTS — A drug bust in the neighborhood Tuesday night nabbed 100 pounds of heroin with a black market value of at least $14 million, according to a statement from the Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office.
A joint task force working under the New York division of the Drug Enforcement Administration was conducting surveillance when officers noticed two suspicious pickup trucks with North Carolina license plates — one towing a trailer — near Northern Boulevard and 84th Street around 8 p.m., according to officials. One of the trucks was unregistered and both circled the block several times.
Officers stopped the trucks and a drug-sniffing dog alerted officers to the likely presence of drugs in the vehicles, officials said.
Packages of heroin were found concealed inside a car axle being transported by one of the pickups, according to officials.
Officers arrested both drivers, Peter Omar Garcia-Romero and Jose Guadencio Lantan-Vela.
The Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office said Wednesday that it will charge the men with conspiracy and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first and third degrees.
DEA spokeswoman Erin Mulvey said the surveillance that led to the bust is separate from an ongoing investigation into drug smuggling in Queens that resulted in a $4.2 million cocaine seizure in November.
