Albuquerque, NM (KKOB) — APD’s Central Narcotics Unit (CNU) and Gun Violence Suppression Unit (GVSU) have been a conducting a series of street level operations along the Central Avenue corridor to address narcotics and firearms which has yielded 28 felony arrests and cleared 24 felony warrants.
Since January, CNU and GVSU have been conducting undercover operations along different parts of Central Avenue. In one of the operations on the area of Central Ave and San Mateo Blvd., detectives observed a male making narcotics transactions and attempted make a traffic stop on the vehicle. The vehicle fled from officers causing a crash near Isleta and Rio Bravo. Officers took the suspect into custody and identified him as Charles Casias. Casias had 4 felony warrants and was booked on Aggravated Fleeing from a Law Enforcement Officer, Concealing Identity and other traffic offenses. A subsequent search warrant was executed on Casias’ vehicle and the following were recovered by officers:
- Stolen Sig Sauer P365 Handgun
- Tan Glock 19X with a switch (full auto) and silencer
- 3,245 Fentanyl pills
- 685 grams of Methamphetamine (1.51 pounds)
- 38 grams of brown Heroin
- 1 grams of black tar heroin
- 10 grams of Cocaine
- 25 grams of pink and white crack cocaine
- 32 mm cartridges
- 2 magazines loaded with (17) rounds and (150) rounds 9mm
- 1 40 caliber (1) 9mm cartridge
- 5 bundles of cut and packaged Suboxone strips
- 1 magazine with 18 9mm cartridges
- 16 45 caliber cartridges
- 1 additional extended 9mm magazine
“APD will continue to proactively target the high crime areas of the city and those who are driving the violent crime,” said Chief Harold Medina. “Our detectives are having higher success rates connecting crimes to firearms and seizing narcotics from the streets because of crime fighting initiatives like these.”
In another operation, detectives located Daniel Saiz, who had a warrant for robbery related charges. Saiz was taken into custody and a search warrant was executed on his residences. Detectives located a firearm, a large amount of ammunition, firearm parts, and 149 fentanyl pills. The seized firearm has been linked to 7 NIBIN hits that are currently under investigation.
APD will continue operations along the Central corridor throughout the upcoming months. Albuquerque residents are encouraged to report narcotics activity to the APD Narcotics Tip Hotline at 505-768-4260.
