New York City police discovered 200 bags of crack cocaine and marijuana packaged in candy wrappers on Tuesday during a raid that ended in 14 arrests.
The bust marks "the culmination of a nine-month investigation, dubbed Operation 'In the Ville,' in
which undercover officers made 69 purchases of crack-cocaine for approximately $4,000," according to a press release from the New York Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor.
Members of the NYPD’s Narcotics Bureau Brooklyn North entered two apartments in the Brownsville neighborhood, where they found three loaded handguns -- a 9mm, a .380 caliber and a .40 caliber with a high capacity magazine -- as well as 200 bags of crack cocaine, and $300 cash. Police also discovered marijuana packaged in Sour Patch candy bags. The substances, cash, and weapons were hidden in a safe inside a kitchen stove, according to authorities.
The building where the bust took place is known as the site of October 2011's infamous Zurana Horton case, in which a stray bullet struck and killed an innocent mother shielding children from the gunfire. None of the defendants who were arrested on Tuesday were charged in the Horton case.
Authorities said that "drug traffickers made sales in the stairwells, and other locations in the vicinity, including a Chinese restaurant and a laundromat," according to the statement.
The suspects are said to be in their late teens and early 20s.
Of the individuals arrested, 11 are charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance. The remaining three have not been indicted.