Bronx house used as 'drug den' seized by ATF, NYPD in effort to prevent drug trafficking
BRONX, New York (WABC) -- A house in the Bronx known for gang activity, including drugs and guns, was seized on Thursday by ATF and NYPD.
It's part of a new federal approach to fight drug trafficking.
The house on Decatur Avenue sits seemingly abandoned with its garage door blown open and the upstairs window smashed.
"A few days ago I saw the police came here and they slam the door from the outside," neighbor Abdul Rajib said.
It was a the ATF NY - NYPD Joint Firearms Task Force busting a local street gang allegedly using the house as a drug den, just steps from a school.
The criminal complaint reads like a laundry list of the drug trade. Cocaine, meth, fentanyl, mushrooms, and marijuana, along with drug packaging materials designed to make drugs look like candy, were all found. Inside, there was also a lot of cash.
Prosecutors say the group used the house to shoot so-called "drill rap videos," posted on social media, which then effectively advertised the goods for sale in the open, a few blocks away.
When agents arrived with a warrant, they found no suspects to take into custody, so instead, they are trying to take the house.
Agents filed a criminal forfeiture complaint in the hopes that this can one day become a home again and not a stash house for poison.
"There's a lot of honest and hard-working people that live in this area, they don't deserve to have that happening," said neighbor Glenni Santos.
Neighbors say they eventually learned not to ask questions about why people were coming and going from the house at all hours of the day and night. Thanks to the new federal approach against drug trafficking, no one is coming by anymore.
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