65 pounds of heroin found in truck axle in Croton-on-Hudson

CROTON-ON-HUDSON, New York (WABC) -- Two men are under arrest and facing charges after police found them in possession of more than 65 pounds of heroin hidden inside the axle of a truck's trailer.

Authorities say Fernando Quiles and Jorge Ayala were intending to sell the drugs for up to $2.3 million wholesale to distributors in New York City, Long Island and across the northeast.

When repackaged for street-level distribution, the shipment would have yielded well over half a million individual doses of heroin.

Prosecutors say a three-month wiretap investigation by the Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Investigators Unit and agents from the DEA's Long Island District Office Task Force identified the suspects as narcotics traffickers.

Quiles allegedly received tractor trailer shipments of narcotics from a Mexican-based organization. Authorities say the drug shipments crossed the Texas border and traveled to the New York City area, where Quiles and Ayala allegedly coordinated distribution to their customer base.

The two men were arrested on Tuesday outside a home on Sassi Drive in Croton-on-Hudson, where investigators say they had recently rented the house for the sole purpose of using it as a location to park a tractor trailer and to stash drugs.

Following an exhaustive day-long court-authorized search of the trailer Wednesday, agents recovered at least 30 kilograms of heroin concealed inside the axle.

They are both charged with conspiracy and criminal possession of a controlled substance.