NEWARK, NJ — A Costa Rican national was arraigned on Friday, Sept. 16, on multiple weapons charges, following his arrest on the night of Thursday, Sept. 15, by a law enforcement task force comprised of Essex County sheriff’s detectives and officers from the Bloomfield and Irvington police departments.
Sheriff Armando Fontoura stated that the task force conducted a plainclothes surveillance operation near the intersection of Stuyvesant and Clinton avenues in Irvington as part of an ongoing investigation into gun trafficking.
“The target of our investigation, Yeudanier ‘Papi’ Arias, 33 of Irvington, was observed carrying a black book bag while conversing with a male passenger in a 2005 Chevrolet van that was parked in front of Arias’s residence, located at 491 Stuyvesant Ave.,” Fontoura said. “As Arias walked away from the scene he examined the contents of the book bag. During this process, our (Bureau of Narcotics) detectives could clearly see the butt handle of a gun.”
Task force officers stopped Arias on the street and discovered a fully loaded, .32-caliber, Waffenfabrik Mauser semi-automatic handgun and a fully loaded, 9mm, Jiminez Arms semi-automatic handgun in the bag. The Mauser was found to be reported stolen out of Union City.
Arias was charged with two counts of the unlawful possession of a weapon and one count of receiving stolen property. Arias was also found to be the subject of one open warrant issued by the Irvington municipal court.
At the arraignment on Friday, Sept. 16, bail was set on Arias $60,000 and he was remanded to the Essex County jail.
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