A New York man is in custody after police found more than 70 firearms and 50,000 rounds of ammunition stashed in his basement.
NYPD Seizure
The NYPD made the bust after a Field Intelligence officer assigned to Brooklyn’s 81st Precinct got a tip about a large weapons and ammo cache at a house in Queens. The officer and his team soon started surveilling the home. They then got a search warrant from the Queens County DA.
The next day, the NYPD raided the man’s residence in Queens’ Oakland Gardens neighborhood. They discovered 45 shotguns and rifles; 23 handguns; one zip gun; two .177 caliber pellet guns; over 50,000 rounds of ammunition; and over 100,000 “high-capacity” magazines.
Charges
Police arrested 60-year-old Ronald Drabman. He faces seven counts of criminal possession of a weapon 1st degree; 72 counts of criminal possession of a weapon 2nd degree; 30 counts of criminal possession of a weapon 3rd degree; one count of unlawful possession of an ammo feed device; and one count of criminal possession of a controlled substance 7th degree.
The last charge stems from the discovery of two bags of cocaine in the home, the New York Daily News reports.
“The defendant is accused of using his home as a warehouse for illegal firearms – along with tens of thousands of rounds of live ammunition,” Queens DA Richard Brown said. “This stockpile of weapons poses a great risk to the residents of Queens. It is extremely disturbing to find such an arsenal of firearms in a residential community.”
Brown added that Drabman does not have a firearm license and is not a gun dealer. Patch.com says Drabman has two prior arrests, including one last year for illegal possession of a .357 revolver. The Daily News says the other arrest is for petty larceny.
The NYPD is calling it one of the largest-ever gun seizures from a single search warrant.
“This is one person that possessed all of these weapons, and like I said, an unprecedented amount of ammunition,” NYPD Chief of Intelligence Thomas Galati said at a press conference.
If convicted, Drabman faces up to 25 years in prison.
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