SMUGGLERS USED KIDS’ LUNCH BOXES TO SHIP COCAINE FROM PUERTO RICO, PROSECUTORS SAY

SAN JUAN — Five men were indicted Wednesday for allegedly running a “vast narcotics conspiracy” where they smuggled millions of dollars worth of cocaine into New York City — using children’s lunchboxes, prosecutors said.

The zip-up lunchboxes — bearing popular cartoon characters from “My Little Pony” and “Despicable Me” — were mailed to homes across New York and Massachusetts via the US Postal Service, according to the city’s Office of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor.

“Concealing narcotic drugs in children’s lunchboxes was the modus operandi for this organization,” said Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan. “If this tactic was designed to throw off law enforcement, it did not work.”

The alleged ringleaders, Carlos Duarte, 36, and Alexis Garcia, 41, are accused of shipping several packages of coke from Puerto Rico to the Big Apple between May 2020 and July 2021.

Both work as music managers representing artists in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, allowing them to travel frequently — allegedly as a cover for the drug-running operation, prosecutors said.

Duarte, who also goes by “Showtime,” was busted Wednesday morning at his home in Yonkers with 400 grams of a white powdery substance, some of which tested positive as cocaine in a field test, according to the authorities.

Also arrested were Bryan Centeno-Rosado, 23, Raul Sweeney, 27, and Wesley Coddington, 43.

Investigators said they seized 30 kilograms of coke over the course of the probe — though they believe scores more could have been trafficked by the narcotics ring.