Drug Agents Seize $42M Worth of NYC-Bound Coke

NEW YORK (AP) -- Drug agents have seized 1,045 pounds of Manhattan-bound cocaine valued at $42 million and arrested six men on narcotics trafficking charges.

Police from New York and New Jersey and federal agents found the cocaine in hidden compartments in a 42-foot, 18-wheel tractor trailer truck parked next to a warehouse in Hackensack, N.J., authorities said Tuesday.

Special Narcotics prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan said it was the largest cocaine seizure this year. The shipment, destined for New York City distribution, was in a tractor trailer with Georgia license plates, she said.

Brennan said cocaine bricks were hidden beneath at least 30 bays, then rails and sheathing were re-bolted to the trailer to hide them.

It took several hours for agents to remove the cocaine from the underside of the trailer, Brennan said.

The six defendants, five of them Texas residents and one from Manhattan, are being held by New Jersey authorities pending extradition, Brennan said.

She said all of the men were charged with major narcotics offenses.

Authorities identified those arrested as Nahum Goigochea, 35, of Manhattan; Juan D. Ybarra, 46, and John K. Ybarra, 26, both of La Villa, Texas; Hector Arcinaga, 23, of Donna, Texas; Guadalupe De La Rosa, 55, of San Antonio, Texas; and Baldemar Ortegon, 36, of Edcouca, Texas.

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