A Cliffside Park man is accused of leading a drug trafficking operation that allegedly transported nearly $4 million worth of high-grade marijuana into New Jersey and New York.
The suspect, 34, is being held in the Bergen County Jail. He's part of an operation, law enforcement officials claim, that includes a municipal prosecutor in North Bergen (a man who is also the years-long law partner of Fort Lee's mayor).
He's currently free on $50,000 bail after being charged with money laundering and financial facilitation of the drug operation.
Also arrested and accused of being part of the ring was a 43-year-old man known for driving a vehicle with dark, tinted windows and apparently adorned with law enforcement license plates.
He's reportedly still in custody at the jail, held on $250,000 bail. He's charged with conspiring to distribute marijuana, among other charges.
Also charged was an Old Bridge man, 36, also facing a distribution drug charge as well as an illegal weapon possession accusation.
Another man, 23, has also been taken into custody on related charges.
Law enforcement officials said they seized six handguns from the suspects -- including two that they say were stolen -- as well as several high-end vehicles (Rolls-Royce, Maserati, Lamborghini and Mercedes Benz), $250,000 in cash and two ounces of cocaine.
Prosecutors say some of the arrested men were traveling to areas in northern California known for producing marijuana. While there, prosecutors said, the men would buy high-grade marijuana produced for legal medicinal use by California residents.
The men then reportedly packaged and masked the marijuana and sent it to Bergen County and New York by overnight mail.
Source: Cliffview Pilot: "New Milford man sought in high-grade interstate pot ring in custody," Jerry Demarco, April 20, 2012