New York Daily News

BROS BUSTED IN DRUG RAID

Panama honored

- BY GRAHAM RAYMAN

AUTHORITIE­S SLAPPED two brothers with drug charges after raids at their Queens apartment and an upstate storage facility netted $150,000 in cash, 10,000 pills and drug parapherna­lia.

Mahmut Tashkent, 35, and his brother Shaadil Tashkent, 31, of Flushing, sold 62,000 Xanax pills, some containing fentanyl, and small amounts of cocaine, authoritie­s said.

“A nearly yearlong investigat­ion into the illegal sale of powerful prescripti­on pills resulted in a surprise early-morning wakeup call for two Queens brothers as police, armed with a court-authorized search warrant, arrested them on drug-selling charges,” Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.

The brothers were arraigned Friday before Queens Criminal Court Judge Ushir Pandit-Durant.

Mahmut Tashkent was ordered held without bail and Shaadil Tashkent’s bail was set at $200,000 bond or $150,000 cash. Their next court date is Oct. 20.

The investigat­ion started in January and grew into a major operation with surveillan­ce, intercepte­d phone calls and GPS tracking.

The NYPD’s Queens South gang squad raided the Orange County storage facility, the men’s home and their cars.

Some 10,000 pills were found in the Capital Self Storage facility in New Hampton, Orange County, along with a vacuum-sealing machine, envelopes and a digital scale.

Mahmut Tashkent allegedly made regular trips to the unit to package the painkiller­s for sale in Queens.

Cops found $154,900 in cash, an imitation pistol, a dagger and packaging materials, plus links to bank accounts in their Flushing apartment.

A search of Mahmut Tashkent’s car found a secret compartmen­t that may have been used to stash drugs. Shaadil Tashkent’s Mercedes-Benz contained 2 grams of cocaine.

Mahmut Tashkent faces up to 20 years in prison and his brother faces nine years.

 ??  ?? Committee members of this year’s Hispanic Day Parade, sponsored by the Daily News and Macy’s, present 2017 Cultural Appreciati­on Award on Wednesday to representa­tive from Panama, this year’s honored country.
Committee members of this year’s Hispanic Day Parade, sponsored by the Daily News and Macy’s, present 2017 Cultural Appreciati­on Award on Wednesday to representa­tive from Panama, this year’s honored country.

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