San Diego

Twenty-seven people, including 17 living in Mexico, were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of smuggling more than 10,000 pounds of marijuana and 10 pounds of cocaine into the United States, it was learned Thursday. The indictments were handed down in April but unsealed Thursday in San Diego. U.S. Atty. Peter K. Nunez said the 27 people were charged with various drug, gun and currency law violations and are members of a major drug ring called the Fonseca-Fernandez Organization. Ernesto Fonseca-Carrillo, 54, from Guadalajara, Mexico, the ring’s alleged leader, was named in the indictment. Ten of the defendants are suspected of living in Los Angeles and San Diego counties and are being sought by federal drug agents. Nunez said that he expected some arrests to be made in other states, but did not say where. On May 13, 1983, Mexican customs agents in Tijuana seized $1.7 million in cash from one of the defendants as he crossed the border from San Ysidro. The money, which was packed in cardboard boxes and a suitcase, came from drug sales, said Nunez. U.S. officials are negotiating with Mexican law enforcement officials for return of the money. The indictment also charges that U.S. Customs agents confiscated $901,000 in cash in July, 1983, from three Tijuana lawyers.