Drug kingpin busted in heroin, fentanyl trafficking ring

US Customs and Border Protection officers announced their biggest fentanyl bust in history Thursday — seizing more than 250 pounds of the dangerous synthetic opioid from a secret compartment inside a load of Mexican produce heading into Arizona.

Meanwhile, in New York, authorities announced the arrest of a local kingpin who had 32 kilograms of heroin and fentanyl from Mexico in stash houses in The Bronx and Yonkers.

Both drug operations trace back to the Sinaloa region of Mexico, which is home to the drug cartel previously run by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, whose drug-trafficking trial wrapped up in Brooklyn federal court Thursday.

Authorities said the Sinaloa cartel supplied the drugs.

Federal officials seized 254 pounds of fentanyl worth $3.5 million and 395 pounds of methamphetamine valued at $1.18 million Saturday from a tractor-trailer hauling Mexican cucumbers across the commercial border crossing in Nogales, Ariz., authorities said Thursday.

Drug-sniffing dogs alerted border-patrol agents, who found the cache in a secret compartment under the truck’s rear floor.

Fentanyl is 80 to 100 times more powerful than morphine, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

“It is said that a quarter-milligram, or the size of a few grains of salt, of fentanyl . . . can kill a person very quickly,” Nogales Port Director Michael Humphries said.

In New York, authorities announced that Juan Silva Santos of Yonkers and four cohorts, including a representative of a Mexico-based narcotics cartel, were indicted for a massive heroin and fentanyl haul with a street value of $10 million.

“The defendants trafficked in multimillion-dollar quantities of potentially lethal opioids,” said Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan.

“These types of narcotics seized in this case have fueled New York City’s epidemic of overdose fatalities.”

Between September and October of last year, DEA agents observed Santos and co-defendants Ezequiel Then, Candido De Jesus, Wilton Paulino and Jesus Vega coming and going from a one-bedroom apartment on Underhill Avenue in The Bronx that they had been using as a stash house. Vega was characterized in the indictment as a native of Sinaloa who has ties to Mexican drug cartels.

Authorities raided the apartment on a search warrant on Oct. 25, 2018, finding Then in the kitchen, allegedly surrounded by drug paraphernalia while closing a kilogram package of fentanyl using a heat sealer.

Investigators found 12 kilos of heroin and fentanyl squirreled away in a compartment behind a closet wall — and six more kilos of drugs were discovered sandwiched between a box spring and mattress, officials said.

Agents also raided Santos’ posh personal pad on Ridge Hill Boulevard in Yonkers, seizing $28,000 in cash from a closet and 14 kilos of fentanyl and heroin stuffed in the lining of a suitcase inside a private storage locker on the premises.

De Jesus pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Jan. 24 in Manhattan Supreme Court, while Santos pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday.

The defendants are charged with conspiracy, criminal possession of a controlled substance and other crimes. Santos also was charged with operating as a major trafficker, which could bring a life sentence.

With Post wires