4 Colombians, $1.2 Million Seized in Narcotics Case

Four Colombian nationals were arrested and $1.2 million, suspected of being drug profits, was seized Thursday night in a raid on an Anaheim apartment by Los Angeles police narcotics officers.

The four men were arrested at 9 p.m. at the Oakwood Gardens Apartments at Broadway and Brookhurst Street. Officers from Anaheim, Garden Grove, Santa Ana and Fountain Valley assisted investigators from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Narcotics Division.

Arrested on suspicion of conspiring to sell cocaine were Harvey Ospina Mora, 37, who told investigators he lived at the apartment, and Juan Carlos Lopez, 35; Edgar Rodriguez Guevara, 42, and Jose Euclides Restrepo, 40, all of Fountain Valley. They were being held in Los Angeles County Jail on Thursday in lieu of $100,000 bail each.

Investigators said the money came from the sale of more than 80 pounds of cocaine. A car and a .38-caliber handgun also were seized by police. There were no injuries and no shots were fired.

Los Angeles Police Sgt. Carley Mitchell said he did not believe the arrests and confiscated cash would make a significant dent in the importation of cocaine into Southern California. The money will be turned over to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which must file a civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court to keep the confiscated cash.

Authorities said the investigation also included the seizure of 10 kilos of cocaine and the arrests of Jario C. Holguio, 32, and Alphonso Colonia, 42, both Colombian nationals, last week in the Los Angeles suburb of South Gate. They also are held in the Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail each.