BY TIMOTHY BOLGER
A New York City police officer from Long Island was among five people arrested Monday for being part of an international cocaine trafficking ring that shipped more than 350 kilos of narcotics into the nation, federal prosecutors said.
A federal grand jury indicted Amaury Abreu, an officer assigned to the 113th Precinct in Queens, on charges of conspiring to import and distribute cocaine. He was arrested at his home.
“By joining forces with his co-conspirators, Abreu has allegedly committed serious crimes, disgraced his NYPD badge, and betrayed the public trust as well as fellow members of law enforcement who put their lives on the line to interdict drugs that endanger our communities,” said Seth D. DuCharme, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Prosecutors said Abreu and his accomplices imported multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine into the United States by sending drug couriers on flights, through the mail, on tractor trailers from Mexico, and in produce shipments.
Abreu used his position as a police officer to protect his co-conspirators by providing information about law enforcement procedures, performing warrant checks from the NYPD arrest database and, on at least one occasion, distributing cocaine for the organization, according to investigators.
Also charged were Gustavo Valerio, 38, of South Ozone Park, Junior Ortiz, 29, of Uniondale, and Roosevelt residents Julio Bautista, 35, and 43-year-old Cesar Diaz-Bautista.
The arrest comes after an NYPD officer from West Islip was arrested in July on drug trafficking charges and an NYPD officer and U.S. Army Reservist from Williston Park was arrested in September for spying for China on the Tibetan community in Queens. Both officers have pleaded not guilty.
The suspects in the alleged drug scheme are scheduled to be arraigned Monday before Judge Sanket J. Bulsara in Brooklyn federal court. They each face at least 10 years in prison, if convicted.
“There is no place for corruption in the NYPD and it will always be prosecuted fully,” said NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea.
This story first appeared on our sister publication longislandpress.com.
