Nelson Salcedo, 35, of Englewood, was arrested on Wednesday, Aug. 26, outside a self-storage facility in Long Island City, Queens, following a two-week investigation into high-level cocaine trafficking in New York City and New Jersey, according to the New York City Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor.

The investigation was conducted by the DEA New Jersey Field Division, NYPD, New Jersey State Police, and Port Authority Police Department and was connected to an earlier investigation into high-level cocaine trafficking in New Jersey involving the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office.

Beginning Wednesday, Aug. 12, investigators twice watched Salcedo allegedly deliver weighted cardboard boxes in Manhattan near the northern end of Central Park, prosecutors said. Both deliveries happened on Wednesday evenings, and Salcedo allegedly used a Nissan van registered to an elevator repair company.

Anticipating another delivery, investigators followed Salcedo to a self-storage facility at 41-02 Northern Blvd. in Long Island City on Wednesday, Aug. 26, prosecutors said. At approximately 4:20 p.m., investigators allegedly watched him make two trips inside the facility and return with several brown cardboard boxes.

Investigators detained Salcedo after allegedly seeing him load boxes into the van, where they spotted 12 boxes inside and seven more on the ground, authorities said. A court-authorized search later uncovered approximately 266 kilograms of suspected cocaine packed into 230 brick-shaped packages inside the 19 boxes. Field tests were positive for cocaine, while NYPD laboratory testing remained pending.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch called the seizure the department’s largest cocaine bust in at least a decade, while Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan said the seizure appeared to be her office’s largest single cocaine haul in 20 years. Cocaine is involved in more than half of New York City’s overdose deaths and can be especially deadly when mixed with fentanyl and sold to unsuspecting buyers, Brennan said.

Salcedo was charged with first- and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, prosecutors said. He was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court.


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