Heroin bust by state troopers yields $20,000 worth of narcotics and possible illegal alien
By
Susan Campbell
Story Created:
Dec 28, 2007 at 5:19 PM EST
Story Updated:
Dec 28, 2007 at 6:51 PM EST
SCHUYLER - New York State Troopers made a big drug bust on the thruway. State Police say that as far as drug busts go, this one is pretty significant. That's because they confiscated more than $20,000 worth of heroin that was en route to Utica from Brooklyn.
Yesterday afternoon, two troopers from the State Police barracks in Schuyler were making a routine traffic stop on I-90 for dark tinted windows.
When the driver and his passenger started telling inconsistent stories, the troopers got suspicious. A K-9 partner smelled narcotics, so the troopers started looking for drugs.
They found a modified canister hidden in the vehicle's engine compartment. Inside the canister there were 1,320 individual packets of heroin. To put that in perspective, that adds up to about 4 ounces, or $20,000.
Troopers arrested the driver and his passenger, and both were arraigned in the Town of Little Falls Court. The driver - Jaime Garcia Jr., 30, of Utica, is being held in the Herkimer County Jail on $50,000 cash bail.
His passenger -Alejandro Medrano, 47, is believed to be here in the United States illegally on an expired work Visa. He's being held in the Herkimer County Jail without the possibility of bail on an immigration detainer.
U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, as well as the New York State Police Community Narcotics Team assisted with the arrest.
Both suspects are facing felony drug charges.
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