A Costa Rican national was arraigned today on multiple weapons charges following his arrest last night 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 on-going 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 Avenue,” Sheriff Fontoura said. "As Arias walked away from the scene he examined the contents of the book bag.
During this process our BON 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, police said.
According to police, 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. He was also found to be the subject of on open warrant issued by the Irvington municipal court.
At today’s arraignment, Arias' bail was set at $60,000 and he was remanded to the Essex County jail.