5 Men Charged For Allegedly Smuggling Cocaine Via US Postal Service From Puerto Rico

Five individuals smuggled 30 kilograms (over 66 pounds) of cocaine from Puerto Rico to New York and Massachusetts through the U.S. Postal Service. Cocaine worth millions of dollars was found inside hidden children's lunchboxes and school binders.

Three out of five defendants were scheduled first for arraignments before the Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Abraham Clott Wednesday.

Carlos Duarte, Alexis Garcia, Rual Sweeney, Wesley Coddington and Bryan Centeno-Rosado were named the accused in the recent press release by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Duarte, also known as "Showtime," and Garcia or "Ale G." are both New York residents. They were reported to be the ringleaders who work as managers in the music industry representing recording artists in Peurto Rico and Dominican Republic, which is allegedly a cover for illegal activities. Sweeney, Coddington and Centeno-Rosado were also arrested in connection to this "sophisticated scheme" of mailed cocaine. Coddington and Centeno-Rosado will be arraigned next month.

"Cocaine continues to be an illegal drug anchored in New York," said DEA Special Agent in Charge Ray Donovan. "This drug conspiracy is representative of how a trafficking organization capitalized during Covid by using mail services to transport illegal drugs into New York. I applaud the proactive work conducted by the NYC Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor, the US Postal Inspection Service, and the members of the New York Drug Enforcement Task Force, Group T-41."

DEA's New York Drug Enforcement Task Force, Group T-41 and the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) managed and controlled this long-term investigation. Federals and authorities said that the conspiracy happened between May 2020 to July 2021.

During the investigation process, United States Postal Service (USPS) packages with approximately 15 kilograms of cocaine have been linked to this case.

Through USPS packages’ fingerprints, surveillance and court-authorized searches, the inspectors connected several hallmarks of packages sent by the organization, wherein they uncovered a shipping pattern involving 100 similar packages since May 2020. The packages were shipped to residential addresses in New York State, including Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Greene County, and Massachusetts, as stated in the press release.

It added that the recipients used were mostly fictitious or actual people not associated with the transaction and the address provided.