Cops tailing two drug suspects in the Bronx blew open a black-bag operation - $10 million worth of heroin packed into a duffle.
Andy Moscat, 28, and Francisco Ramirez, 41, were nabbed in a bust of one of the largest smack-trafficking rings in the area by the State Police.
"These big seizures are definitely more common now than they were. Even one kilo of heroin would have been a rare find five years ago," Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said yesterday.
The duo were indicted on the heels of another major takedown in which the feds broke up a heroin mill, in the shadow of Manhattan's Theater District, seizing $6.5 million of the drug.
Brennan said drug dealers are moving from cocaine to heroin distribution because it's lighter to transport and more profitable.
A second factor is demand. The rise in abuse of prescription drugs - many of which are opiates - has some seeking out heroin as a cheaper alternative.
In the Bronx case, Ramirez and Moscat were arrested last Saturday after a long-term undercover probe.
Cops watched Moscat climb out of a car driven by Ramirez, go into 2526 Bronx Park East and return with a large bag that he shoved into a second parked vehicle.
Cops moved in and found 40 pounds of heroin packed into bricks in the bag. They seized paraphernalia for a wholesale drug packaging mill and a .9 mm Beretta handgun from an apartment.
They also found $38,000 in cash and diamond-encrusted jewelry in Moscat's Yonkers apartment.
Moscat was cuffed as he tried to flee on foot. Ramirez smashed the car he drove into a State Police vehicle.
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