Police Seize 220 Pounds of Cocaine; 2 Men Held

While working on an unrelated investigation, undercover narcotics officers stumbled upon a drug-trafficking operation, seizing 220 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $40 million and arresting two men on drug charges, police said Saturday.

William A. Garcia, 24, of Anaheim and Jesus W. Calderon, 23, of Westminster were arrested Friday while driving south on the Santa Ana Freeway near Harbor Boulevard, Police Lt. John Cross said Saturday.

They are being held without bail at the Anaheim detention center on suspicion of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and possession of cocaine for sale, Cross said.

“Investigators were watching them,” Cross said. “They suspected they were involved in some kind of cocaine activity.”

Earlier Friday, narcotics officers staking out an Anaheim apartment complex in the 200 block of Muller Street noticed a 1985 Mazda drive into an alley and park between two apartment buildings, said one undercover officer, who asked not to be identified.

The investigators then watched Garcia and Calderon carry four cardboard boxes and a nylon tote bag out of an apartment and load them into the Mazda owned by Calderon, the undercover officer said.

The pair then drove away, he said, and the narcotics officers followed. The car, driven by Garcia, was stopped on the Santa Ana Freeway. A search of the car turned up the cocaine, Cross said.

The officer said Garcia and Calderon, who denied during questioning that the cocaine belonged to them, apparently were not working for a larger organization.

“These guys were independents,” he said. “They don’t have any direct connection to any cartel.”

Calderon, who claims to be a native of Puerto Rico, and Garcia, who claims Colombian citizenship, were expected to be arraigned in North Orange County Municipal Court in Fullerton on Tuesday, according to police. They were being held without bail because of a high probability that they would flee before arraignment, Cross said.

The amount of cocaine confiscated Friday didn’t raise many eyebrows among drug enforcement agents, who are fighting a growing cocaine industry in the Southland, Cross said.

“Five or 10 years ago, it would have been a substantial amount,” he said. “Today, it is not surprising.”

By comparison, a variety of federal, state, county and local law enforcement agencies helped the Anaheim Police Narcotics Division in December seize 5,000 pounds of cocaine, conservatively estimated at about $100 million.

Seven men were arrested as a result of that operation. The thousands of plastic-wrapped cocaine bricks were discovered in two tractor-trailers near Victorville. Anaheim Police Chief Joseph T. Molley said the drug shipment was probably on its way to the East Coast.

Two weeks ago, FBI and local law enforcement agents raided a Fullerton warehouse and discovered two tons of cocaine worth $343 million on the street. That seizure, considered to be the largest ever in Orange County, has not yet led to any arrests, police said.