BY IRENE SPEZZAMONTE
Two Texas women believed to be connected to a Queens narcotics ring were arrested this week after police found $4.2 million in cocaine inside a storage truck they were operating, according to police.
Monica Lucia Venegas Grimaldo, 19, was driving an U-Haul truck with Nolvia Lili Amador Manuelas, 26, in the passenger seat at 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 22 when they were stopped by police in the area of Boerum Place and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. The suspects and the truck, which had Arizona plates, were later taken to the 115th Precinct stationhouse in Jackson Heights for further investigation.
According to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, the women and the vehicle were believed to be connected to an organized drug operation based in Queens that has been under investigation for some time.
Police executed a warranted search of the vehicle later on Sunday and found 20 kilos of cocaine stored inside. Grimaldo and Manuelas were subsequently charged with first- and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and second-degree conspiracy. They each face up to 20 years behind bars if convicted.
“Great police work led to the seizure of 20 kilograms of cocaine concealed in a pair of speakers in the back of a U-Haul truck,” Brown said in a statement on Monday. “Let drug dealers be forewarned— this is not the place to import or distribute illegal drugs.”
