$3.6 Million Seized in U.S. Drug Probe

Federal agents this week seized $3.6 million in cash that they believe is linked to drug trafficking, the largest cash seizure ever by the U.S. Customs Service’s Los Angeles office, a spokesman said Friday.

Customs agents took about $3 million of that total--plus jewelry worth $10,000, a 1984 Chevrolet Impala, a .38-caliber handgun, financial records and a money-counting machine--from a Norco house after an investigation that began on Monday, said John Miller, public information officer for the Customs Service.

No arrests have been made, according to Joe Charles, assistant special agent in charge of investigations for the Customs Service at Terminal Island. “We are (still) in the preliminary stages of this investigation,” he said.

The trail that led to eastern Norco began on the Long Beach Freeway in South Gate, where Highway Patrol officers stopped an allegedly reckless driver, Miller said. The officers opened several suspicious packages they discovered in the car and found $599,000 in cash.

The driver, who was cited for reckless driving but was not arrested, was identified by Customs officials as Jorge Bendak, 51, a Colombian national residing in Miami. The Highway Patrol alerted the Customs Service and Internal Revenue Service, Miller said.

A check of the money by a drug-sniffing dog indicated that it had been in contact with narcotics, Charles said.

Further investigation led to the Norco house, which agents searched with a resident’s permission Wednesday night, Miller said. But Customs officials declined to explain further the evidence that pointed to the house.

After the cash found at the house was tested by a drug-sniffing dog, officers concluded that it had also come in contact with narcotics, Charles said. Investigators did not know Friday if the handgun they seized is registered.

Customs agents are looking for another Colombian national who rents the home and whose name was included in the confiscated documents, Miller said. The national was not home at the time of Wednesday’s search, Charles said.