A Record 2,135 Pounds of Cocaine Seized; 3 Arrested

More than a ton of cocaine with a street value of $363 million has been confiscated by Los Angeles police in what officials Monday called a record seizure of the drug in California.

Three Colombian men were arrested and 2,135 pounds of cocaine seized Friday at two locations in the San Fernando Valley, Assistant Chief Barry Wade said. In the previous record cocaine bust, more than 1,900 pounds of the drug was seized in Los Angeles in March.

City’s Reputation

“The fact that we’re seizing more and more narcotics demonstrates to us that Los Angeles is, in fact, the narcotics capital of the United States,” Wade said at a news conference at Parker Center police headquarters, the confiscated cocaine piled in front of him in large cardboard boxes and dozens of smaller book-size blocks.

Acting on information from an informant two weeks ago, police said, narcotics division detectives began following 35-year-old Miguel Trevino, a Colombian national, and watching a one-story house in a middle-class neighborhood of Chatsworth.

Last Friday, detectives followed Trevino as he drove from the house, in the 10500 block of Jordan Avenue, and met with two other men, Jose Luis Avila, 21, and Jose Aponte Londono, 26.

“They stopped, had a short conversation and exchanged vehicles,” Wade said, after which Trevino drove his new vehicle back to the Chatsworth house, “drove in the garage and shut the door.”

About 15 minutes later, Trevino drove the car back out of the garage, met the two other men at Balboa Boulevard and San Fernando Mission Blvd. in Granada Hills, “and again exchanged vehicles,” Wade said.

Moments later, detectives stopped the car driven by Avila and Londono as it approached the 118 Freeway, found about 150 pounds of cocaine inside, and arrested both men. Trevino was arrested at the meeting point and taken back to the Chatsworth house, Wade said, “where the remainder of the cocaine was found.”

$2-Million Bail

The three men were booked at Parker Center on suspicion of transporting a controlled substance, with bail set at $2 million each. They are scheduled to be arraigned today in Los Angeles Municipal Court.

Despite the size of the seizure, Wade said he did not believe the men arrested were major figures in the cocaine trade.

“It’s safe to assume they’re merely delivery boys,” he said. “The investigation is continuing.”

Police said Trevino had recently moved into the tract home, which officials believe he was leasing. County property records list the owner as a Woodland Hills woman.

Trevino “set up a phony residence at that location, to make it appear to the neighbors that he did live there. It’s our belief he did not,” Wade said.

The raid brings to 9,000 pounds the total of cocaine confiscated by Los Angeles police this year, 30% more than they seized in the same period last year, Wade said. The drugs had a street value of $1.5 billion, he said.

“During the last three years the LAPD has seized over $47 million in cash from Colombian narcotics dealers,” Wade said, “and I have to tell you it has not made a single dent in their operation.”