Countywide : 1,100 Pounds of Cocaine Seized by Task Force

Acting on information from confidential informants, county drug investigators arrested two Cuban nationals and confiscated 1,100 pounds of cocaine in what officials said was part of a cross-country drug smuggling ring.

The arrests and seizures came Aug. 22 and Sept. 28, but information was withheld because police thought it would jeopardize the investigation, said Capt. Tim Simon, head of the Regional Narcotics Suppression Program, which brings together investigators from 19 county law enforcement agencies, the state Department of Justice and four federal agencies.

Simon said the investigation began in August, when “we got word of a trafficking operation involving large quantities of cocaine moving from Orange County and Los Angeles County to New York.”

Through surveillance, investigators developed leads that led them to follow Enrique de la Barca, 29, of West New York, N.J., in a tractor-trailer through Orange and Los Angeles counties to Las Vegas. The truck was eventually stopped Aug. 22; 440 pounds of cocaine were found hidden in a load of onions, police said.

De la Barca was held in Las Vegas on federal charges of transporting and possessing cocaine for sale.

According to Simon, information from de la Barca’s arrest led to a Cartella Street address in La Mirada and a home in Huntington Park.

The second suspect, identified as Ovidio Valdes, 22, of La Mirada, was arrested in La Mirada on the night of Sept. 28. Authorities found 600 pounds of cocaine at his home, Simon said.

Valdes was charged with possession of a controlled substance for sale and held at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department office in Norwalk. Bail was set at $3 million.

At the same time, investigators served another search warrant on a 60th Street house in Huntington Park and recovered $50,000 in cash related to the case, Simon said.