POLICE COMMISSIONER PREDICTS 2-TON DRUG BUST WILL CURTAIL VIOLENT CRIME

NEW YORK -- Two tons of cocaine found in a warehouse in Brooklyn was
described Friday as a "historic seizure" _ the largest confiscation of
drugs in New York by law enforcement authorities in at least five years.

"This is a major blow against narcotics trafficking in New York City," said
police Commissioner Raymond Kelly at an afternoon news conference to
announce the seizure and the arrest of four men.

He said the discovery Thursday night during a surveillance in the Park
Slope section would have a ripple effect on crime in the city.

"Just think of the amount of violence that would occur over 2 tons of
cocaine and the lives impacted by it," Kelly said. "Narcotics is at the
core of violence. We've seen that for many years."

He said it was the largest drug seizure in at least five years and one of
the largest he could recall.

"This is a historic seizure," Kelly said.

The raid on the warehouse came after members of the New York Drug
Enforcement Task Force watched a car involved in previous narcotics
investigations enter a warehouse and later leave with a heavily weighted
rear section, according to Assistant Special Agent Victor Pedalino of the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The warehouse was searched after 464 kilograms of cocaine were found in
black garbage bags and black suitcases in the car, he said.

The rest of the drugs were found in secret compartments inside two 20-foot
trucks parked in the warehouse, he said.

Two men were arrested in the car and two others were arrested in the warehouse.

New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan said the drug
seizure showed that the public attention since the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks had been diverted but that the "problem of narcotics has not gone
away" and neither has law enforcement's attack on it.

She said more drugs had already been seized in the city than was seized all
of last year.

Kelly said a citywide attack on drugs included a focus on the northern
section of Manhattan, where more than 1,000 low-level drug dealers and
their customers had been arrested in recent weeks.

He said he suspected the aggressive approach to investigating the drug
trade had contributed to a 7 percent drop in overall crime in the city in
2002 and a more than 20 percent fall in the murder rate.

Even so, the size of Thursday's seizure was not expected.

"They anticipated a seizure but I think they were pleasantly surprised," he
said of investigators.