Police Bust Alleged Scheme to Mail 10 Pounds of Marijuana in Teaneck

Two New York City men were arrested after one of them went to a Teaneck post office to pick up a shipment of suspected marijuana sent through U.S. mail, police said.

Postal Service inspectors alerted local police on Tuesday that a shipment of about ten pounds of pot bound for Voorhees Street had been intercepted, Teaneck Police Chief Robert A. Wilson said in a statement Wednesday.

When the drugs didn’t arrive, the addressee, Kewing A. Paez, contacted the post office asking about the delivery, police said. Investigators setup surveillance and moved in when Paez walked out after signing for the package.

He arrived to retrieve the package with two others who waited in a car outside, police said.

Paez, 20 of Brooklyn, and the driver, 25-year-old Bronx resident Angel F. Martinez, were charged with possession with intent to distribute five pounds or more of marijuana, police said. Bail was set for both at $25,000, no ten percent option. The third person in the car was not charged.

Bergen County Jail records show the pair had been released after posting bond Wednesday.

New Jersey-based U.S. Postal Inspector David Arias said law enforcement has seen similar cases in varying degrees.

“This is not the first time we’ve seen it,” he said of sending illegal drugs through the mail.

Arias declined to say how the drugs were detected by postal authorities. Postal Inspectors assisted local investigators, but Teaneck police made the arrests.

Police said no one involved had any connection to the Voorhees Street address and only picked it because it was close to the George Washington Bridge.

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First published 6:02 p.m. Wednesday. Updated 7:50 p.m.