$44 Million in Coke Seized; Six Arrested

Police and federal drug agents arrested six Colombian citizens in Van Nuys and seized 261 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of $44 million in what Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates on Tuesday called the first substantial drug bust of the new year.

Detectives watching suspected cocaine dealers spotted a transaction in a parking lot at Van Nuys Boulevard and Sherman Way on Monday afternoon. They made four arrests and confiscated 10 pounds of narcotics there.

Officers later found the rest of the cocaine and $212,000 in cash at the apartment of one of the suspects in the 16400 block of Saticoy Street and later arrested two additional suspects.

Those arrested were identified as Luiz Londano, 26; Dario Correa, 39; Maria Hurtado, 20; Hernan Jaramillo, 46; Teresa Garcia, 24, and Walter Torres, 28. All were booked on suspicion of possession of cocaine for sale and held on $100,000 bail each.

As usual in large cocaine seizures, officials refused to release details of the investigation leading to the arrests.

“For us to go into any details at all puts these detectives and (federal Drug Enforcement Administration) agents in great jeopardy,” Gates said.

In an unrelated case Monday, Los Angeles Police Department detectives seized 12 pounds of cocaine worth about $2 million and $66,000 in cash after observing a transaction in a West Covina parking lot. Booked on suspicion of possession of cocaine for sale and held on $100,000 bail were Ismael Borja, 43, a Colombian, and Richard Miranda, 42, a Mexican citizen.

Last year, police in the City of Los Angeles confiscated a record 13,000 pounds of cocaine--valued at $2.6 billion--and nearly $30 million in cash.