Chips and dip with a side of coke.
A Bronx man has been nabbed on drug trafficking charges after a 110-pound stash of cocaine was discovered inside a truck hauling party snacks, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Jose Delacruz, 57, was indicted in Manhattan Supreme Court on a string of drug-related charges after the huge load of cocaine, estimated to be worth $1.25 million, was intercepted in Virginia last October, hidden in boxes of lentil chips and queso dip.
Delacruz had allegedly arranged for his cousin, Luis Delacruz, to drive the bulk shipment of drugs from Texas to New York, prosecutors said.
“Let’s see if we can pick up this weekend, and that way I can be over at the warehouse by Tuesday-Wednesday,” Delacruz allegedly told his relative in a wiretapped call on Sept. 30.
Just days later, prosecutors said, Delacruz received multiple calls from Luis, partly in code, telling him to get ready to pick up the stash at an undisclosed location around Oct. 9.
“Saturday, be on the alert as to where I can make a stop at one of those locations, and you can go in a cab and pick up the girl,” Luis allegedly said on the call, using “girl” as a code word for cocaine.
Before the shipment could even reach the Big Apple, authorities detained Luis as he pulled into a truck stop in Raphine, Virginia, in the early hours of Oct. 6.
The cocaine was found hidden in two duffle bags inside the truck that was carrying boxloads of food items, including snack chips and dip, prosecutors said.
A subsequent raid on Delacruz’s Bronx apartment allegedly uncovered about $24,600 in cash, a kilo press used to shape drugs into bricks and a money counter.
Investigators said a hidden compartment in the floor of Delacruz’s bathroom was empty, but had a strong smell of cocaine.
“The less-than dynamic Delacruz duo allegedly thought that they could evade law enforcement by speaking in code to one another and attempting to conceal 50 kilograms of cocaine in a truck hauling snacks, but they were wrong,” said Ricky J. Patel, Homeland Security’s acting special agent in charge.
Delacruz was taken into custody on Jan. 11 on charges of operating as a major trafficker, conspiracy in the second degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the first and third degrees. His bail was set at $300,000.
His cousin was also arrested and is facing federal charges in Virginia, prosecutors said.
