A New York man accused of smuggling large amounts of oxycodone from his home state to Maine on a weekly basis was arrested Tuesday night as he got off a bus in Augusta.

Rafael Brito, 28, of the Bronx borough of New York City, was carrying 270 30-milligram oxycodone pills and $3,900 in cash in suspected drug proceeds when he was arrested, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency announced Wednesday.

Brito was charged with aggravated drug trafficking, a Class A felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison, if he is convicted. The estimated street value of the seized oxycodone is about $12,000, according to the MDEA.

Brito was arrested by MDEA agents and Maine State Police troopers as he got off a Greyhound bus arriving in Augusta from New York around 9 p.m. Tuesday. He is being held at the Kennebec County Jail in Augusta, where his bail was set at $15,000 cash.

Agents from the MDEA had been investigating Brito for the last two months and discovered he traveled from New York to Maine weekly to supply multiple drug dealers in Maine who sold the painkillers throughout Knox County.

Brito would deliver the drugs to the dealers and collect money. He typically stayed at hotels for several days before returning to New York, the MDEA said in a written statement.

Scott Dolan can be reached at 791-6304 or at:

sdolan@pressherald.com

Twitter: @scottddolan

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