$343 Million in Cocaine Seized in Fullerton

In what law enforcement officials said was the largest narcotics bust in Orange County history, more than two tons of cocaine were seized Friday night from a Fullerton warehouse described as a distribution center for the drug.

No arrests were made in the raid, but FBI agents believe the 4,719 pounds of cocaine came from sophisticated drug cartels operating in South America.

Authorities estimated the cache has a street value of $343.2 million. They said an investigation is continuing into the operators of the cocaine warehouse.

While not as large as the record 21.4-ton cocaine seizure in Sylmar last September, Friday’s raid underscores the fact that Orange County has joined Los Angeles County as a major drug trafficking area, local police officials said Saturday.

The investigation in the Fullerton case lasted more than a month and culminated Friday, when authorities obtained a search warrant for the warehouse, located in the 700 block of State College Boulevard near several auto shops and retail businesses, Parker said.

Inside the warehouse, officials said they found the cocaine wrapped in boxes and stacked onto wooden pallets inside a white GMC truck.

Authorities believe the drugs were about to be moved from the truck to two smaller vehicles that would have taken the cocaine to other locations. No one was inside the warehouse at the time of the raid, authorities said.

Thomas R. Parker, a Los Angeles-based assistant special agent, said the amount of cocaine seized suggests that the drugs were to be sold not just in Orange County, but throughout the nation.

The cocaine packages bore distinctive marks, such as red stars and green blocks, which FBI officials say can be traced to cocaine cartels operating in parts of South America. But officials refused to specify which cartels.

“These cartels work like major corporations. They have their own subsidiaries and their own markings (for the cocaine),” Parker said.

Orange County and the rest of Southern California have seen an increase in drug traffic in recent years partly because of successful efforts to keep drugs out of the south Florida area, Parker said.