Narcotics officers raided a Queens drug den at a home on Wednesday morning, arresting family members after finding allegedly fentanyl-laced drugs and guns just steps away from a child’s bedroom.
This arrest comes on the heels of a pledge that Mayor Eric Adams and the NYPD made on Monday to crackdown on drug trafficking following last week’s death of a 1-year-old child exposed to fentanyl at a Bronx day care center.
According to Jerry O’Sullivan, commanding officer of Queens South Detective Squad, the Sept. 20 raid in Queens Village was a joint operation by 105th Precinct field intelligence officers and the Queens South Narcotics Squad.
During the early hours of Wednesday morning, police descended upon the residence at 208-08 100th Ave. in what was the culmination of a longtime investigation into both drugs and firearms. They took no chances as they entered the location, as the officers hoisted ballistic shields to guard against possible gunfire.
Inside locations, police reported, the officers found a rifle, several pistols, and four kilos of cocaine and heroin they believe had been laced with fentanyl —all in the close proximity of a 10-year-old child.
“This was a single-family house, multiple floors. There was a second-floor bedroom where this young child was sleeping in his room, right across the hall from that child was this recovery of dangerous drugs,” O’Sullivan said. “In addition to that, we go down to the basement. That’s where you see all those firearms we recovered.”
O’Sullivan told amNewYork Metro that the squad was able to detect what they believed to be fentanyl based on its smell, but it will be sent to a lab to be officially analyzed.
Fentanyl is said to be 50 times more potent as heroin, and can be lethal in doses as small as 2 mg. Drug dealers are known to often cut fentanyl into other illicit narcotics.
The child’s parents were among five adults arrested without incident, with at least one of the five being involved in what O’Sullivan described as “heavy distribution.”
Police contacted ACS and placed the 10-year-old in custody of a trusted individual.
With the death of the Bronx tot still fresh in the consciousness of the Big Apple, O’Sullivan said that horrific incident was also on the minds of cops when entering the home.
“We take all this personal. That incident that happened in the Bronx, we’re well aware of that and we’re going to continue to act,” O’Sullivan said. “Frequently, where there are narcotics, there’s guns.”
Police recovered the likes of a Smith & Wesson, Taurus 9mm, a Taurus 45 caliber, and a Taurus high-capacity rifle.
It was the Field Intelligence Officers’ 85th gun arrest since the start of the year.
Five people at the home, meanwhile, were taken into custody: a 48-year-old male, 43-year-old male, 28-year-old female, 32-year-old female, and 37-year-old female. Their names were withheld by police.
All are facing criminal possession of a controlled substance, criminal possession of a weapon, criminal possession of a narcotic drug, criminal use of drug paraphernalia charges, with the 43-year-old male and 32-year-old female are also charged with acting in a manner injurious to a child.
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