Huntington Beach Officers Aid in Bust That Netted 967 Pounds of Cocaine

Narcotics investigators “gave the people of Los Angeles a big valentine by taking more than 900 pounds of cocaine off the streets of this city,” Police Chief Daryl F. Gates said Tuesday.

Flanked by representatives from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Customs Service and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Gates said detectives arrested five suspects and seized 976.8 pounds of cocaine at two locations in Woodland Hills.

Officers from the Huntington Beach Police Department also assisted with the arrests, Gates said. The 1-kilogram packages of the drug, with a street value of $166.5 million, covered a desk and a table at the LAPD’s Central Division.

Acting on an anonymous tip, investigators set up surveillance at a home on Cerrillos Drive. Early Tuesday morning they followed a van from there to a shopping center at Topanga and Ventura boulevards, where the driver parked, Gates said.

Detectives arrested the van’s driver, Myron Keene, 47, of New York City and were given permission to search the van, the chief added. Officers recovered more than 961 pounds, from the van, Gates said.

Officers also seized another 7 kilos of cocaine from a vehicle parked in the 5100 block of Llanos Drive and arrested Miguel A. Libutti, 42, an Argentine national, Adolfo Estrada, 32, Lorenia Valasqo , 19, and Nellie Alvarez, 46, all Colombian nationals, Gates said.