Law enforcement officials announced today that a Bronx man has been arrested for transporting three kilograms of pure fentanyl. Adam Kuperstein reports.
In what is being calling a "historic" drug bust, a Bronx man was arrested for transporting three kilograms of pure fentanyl, according to law enforcement officials — and police said they couldn't find out if he had any previous arrests because of something he did to his body.
It may not look like a whole lot or that big of a drug bust, but the three kilos seized by Nassau County police is enough to potentially kill millions of people, officials said Friday.
"This is an enormous amount of fentanyl," said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. "It could wipe out the population of Nassau County…Fentanyl is cheap and plentiful and it's coming into the county in droves."
Donnelly made the announcement of the mega drug bust along with Nassau Police Chief Patrick Ryder and County Executive Bruce Blakeman
"It's a tragedy that we have to deal with this on a day-to-day basis," Blakeman said.
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The man arrested for trafficking the drugs is Juan Cruz, police said, a 50-year-old from the Bronx. Nassau officials said he's a major drug dealer, and detectives stopped him thanks to a tip. But Cruz had his own tricks to avoid being identified right away.
"When we went to fingerprint him, he had burnt the fingerprints off his hands, so we could not identify him. So no priors because we don't have the proper identification," said Ryder.
"We'll come down hard on any dealers of illegal drugs in this county selling kilos of poison in our communities, selling to our children and families," Donnely said.
The fentanyl seized is valued at $60,000. The reason it's considered to be such a big bust is that fentanyl gets mixed with other drugs, and even a small amount can lead to a deadly overdose.
