A cache of ghost guns and assault weapons were seized during an early morning police raid on a Bronx apartment — with more ghost gun parts being found in a CubeSmart storage unit nearby, cops said Friday.
It was the second ghost gun seizure made by the police in the city in four days, cops said.
Four people, including a 61-year-old woman, are facing a slew of weapons possession charges following the raid on St. Anne’s Ave. near E. 146th St. in Mott Haven, just across the street from St. Mary’s Park, officials said.
Working off of information they had received, members of the NYPD Intelligence Bureau raided the 12th-floor apartment around 5 a.m., finding 20 firearms.
Three of the weapons were ghost guns — self-made, untraceable firearms — officials said. The rest were a mix of handguns, rifles and assault weapons, cops said.
A 3D printer, ghost gun pieces, about $70,000 in cash and extended ammo clips were also recovered. Among the ammo clips was a “drum magazine” capable of holding between 50 and 100 bullets, officials said.
A further investigation led police to a CubeSmart storage facility three blocks away from the apartment, where more ghost gun parts were found in a storage unit rented by the suspects, cops said.
Those arrested included Ruben Nevado, 45, Richard Colon, 28, and Mark Ruiz, 26, cops said. Also arrested was a 61-year-old woman believed to be one of the suspects’ mother, who was living in the apartment.
All four are facing multiple felony weapons possession charges. Their arraignments in Bronx Criminal Court were pending Friday.
The investigation into the ghost gun assembly site was conducted by the NYPD, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives and the Bronx District Attorney’s Office.
Monday morning, officers in Queens raided a College Point apartment, where they found one firearm, two 3D printers and 59 spools of thermoplastic polymer filament used to print the do-it-yourself weapons, according to police.
Arrested was Glen Martinez, 53. His wife and mother were in the apartment when the search warrant was executed, but they were not charged.
Martinez pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Queens Criminal Court and is being held on $50,000 bail.
Ghost guns, which can be easily printed and assembled in someone’s home, lack serial numbers that law enforcement agencies need to trace their usage and movements.
A spokesman for Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said Queens accounts for 38% of the ghost guns seized in New York City since 2021.
Last year, 162 ghost guns were recovered in Queens, along with 92 in the Bronx, 79 in Brooklyn, 35 in Manhattan and 16 on Staten Island.
