DEA seizes $5M worth of ‘El Chapo'-branded heroin in the Bronx

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - Federal drug agents say they seized three kilograms of suspected heroin and over 250,000 individually packaged glassine envelopes that would have been sold on the street throughout the northeast.

On July 17, members of the DEA’s New York Drug Enforcement Task Force executed a search warrant on a house in the Bronx where they found and dismantled a fully functional heroin mill containing the drug and hundreds of thousands of the glassine envelopes to sell it in.

Investigators also found stamps that were used to brand the heroin with a variety of names, including El Chapo, Dunkin’ Donuts, T Mobile, NBA, iPhone and more.

The DEA estimated that the black market value of the suspected heroin was approximately $5 million. 

"The successful investigation announced today disrupted the flow of millions of dollars’ worth of heroin to our city and region,” said Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan.

Three men, Amaury Lora-Grullon, Joseph Medina-Hidalgo, both of the Bronx, and Luis Carmona Ilarraza of Springfield, Massachusetts, were all arrested as a result of the investigation and have been charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first degree. Medina-Hidalgo is also facing two counts of second-degree criminally using drug paraphernalia.

“As long as individuals are involved in illegal narcotics trafficking, the NYPD and our partners will relentlessly work to stop the threat to public safety,” said Police Commissioner James P. O’Neill.