Drug Trafficker Charged With Possessing 15 Kilograms Of Cocaine In Hidden Compartment Of Car

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, and Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI"), Christopher G. Raia, announced that EDDIE RUIZ has been charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance. RUIZ was arrested on August 29, 2025, and presented before U.S. Magistrate Judge Katharine H. Parker in Manhattan federal court on August 30, 2025.

"As alleged, Eddie Ruiz was transporting over 15 kilograms of cocaine in a hidden compartment in his specially modified vehicle," said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. "Sadly, drug trafficking involves a vast, sophisticated, international network full of players who are motivated by profit and have no regard for the lives they ruin. New Yorkers want that network broken and the players taken off the streets. Together with our law enforcement partners, the women and men of the Southern District of New York will do everything in our power to fight drug trafficking on behalf of New Yorkers."

"An authorized vehicle search revealed Eddie Ruiz allegedly possessed significant quantities of cocaine seemingly packaged for distribution that were hidden in storage compartments in the vehicle," said FBI Assistant Director in Charge Christopher G. Raia. "Ruiz's alleged intentions to introduce addictive narcotics to our neighborhoods greatly jeopardizes the health and wellbeing of those residents. During Operation Summer Heat, the FBI will continue to apprehend and interrupt any criminal who seeks to supply lethal substances to our communities."

As alleged in the Complaint:^[1]

On or about the afternoon of August 29, 2025, a member of New York state law enforcement pulled over a vehicle that RUIZ was driving in Sullivan County near Mamakating, New York, for several violations of New York's Vehicle and Traffic Law. Following RUIZ's suspicious behavior during that traffic stop, law enforcement officers approached the vehicle with a drug-detecting canine, which signaled that it had detected the scent of narcotics within. Law enforcement officers then began a roadside search of the vehicle and found a hidden compartment, also known as a "trap," in its trunk. After partially opening the trap, the officers observed what appeared to be bricks of narcotics, as pictured below.

Once the automobile was transported to a secure law enforcement location, the officers fully opened the trap and found it to contain 15 tightly wrapped rectangular packages, packaged consistently with distribution-level quantities of narcotics and weighing approximately one kilogram each. Field-testing of these packages, pictured below, was positive for cocaine.

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RUIZ, 47, of New York, New York, is charged with one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The minimum and maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge.

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding work of the FBI, and the New York State Police and their Troop F Community Stabilization Unit and Troop K Community Stabilization Unit.

This case is being handled by the Office's White Plains Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carmi Schickler is in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.