Detectives uncover $10M drug ring after stopping UHaul in New York

Published March 12, 2016

In this undated photo provided by the New York City Police Department, containers of packaged marijuana ready to be sold are shown inside a New York warehouse. (New York City Police Department via AP)

Detectives uncovered a $10 million Brooklyn drug operation that included liquefied pot used in e-cigarettes when they stopped a U-Haul truck stuffed with hundreds of pounds of marijuana hidden among furniture, police said Friday.

Acting on a tip from federal investigators that a large shipment of drugs was headed from the West Coast to Brooklyn, officials pulled the vehicle over outside a garage Wednesday. They discovered 300 pounds of marijuana inside, said Inspector John Benesopolis, the commanding officer of the New York Police Department's criminal enterprise investigative division.

The driver, Philip Feng, 36, and passenger Victor Bae, 35, were arrested on charges of drug and gun possession. The two were being held on $2 million bail after their arraignments Friday, and messages left with their attorneys were not immediately returned.

Police said they believe the operation was in business for at least four years and made about $10 million annually.

Benesopolis says a search of Feng's garage turned up 100 pounds of marijuana, liquefied pot used in e-cigarettes, mushrooms, PCP and a loaded revolver. They also found e-cigarette cartridges. Police said the liquefied pot and PCP is odorless when smoked in an e-cigarette. Overall, they recovered about $2.5 million in drugs and drug paraphernalia, police said.

Authorities were searching Feng's home and were investigating the operation. More arrests were possible, and it wasn't clear yet where the drugs had been sold, authorities. Said. The high-end pot called "Emperor Jack," ''Sour Diesel" and "LA Confidential" was worth $6,000 a pound, police said.

Police said Feng used some of the drug money to collect World War II memorabilia, including a decoding machine similar to the one created by Alan Turing, who was depicted in the Oscar-nominated film "The Imitation Game."

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