12 Indicted in Cocaine Shipping Scheme

Twelve suspected drug runners, including two from Orange County, have been indicted on charges alleging that they tried to ship more than 1 1/2 tons of cocaine across the country in tractor-trailers.

The federal indictment returned Friday culminates almost a year of investigation by Anaheim police, which has broken up several cocaine smuggling rings.

Charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine were Alejandro Sanchez, 41, of Yorba Linda and Paul Velez-Torres, 28, of Huntington Beach. The others indicted were Cubans and Colombians from Florida, New York, New Jersey, Rialto, Temecula, and Covina.

All are scheduled to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Aug. 27. The defendants, who were arrested last week, face penalties of 10 years to life in prison if convicted.

The indictment alleges that the operation used trucks and trailers with secret compartments to ship thousands of kilograms of cocaine from a central warehouse in Rancho Cucamonga, which was the hub of a network of smaller storage areas.

According to the U.S. attorney’s office, narcotics agents intercepted five shipments of cocaine--1,527 kilograms, worth an estimated $25 million--from the alleged operation from September to November, 1989.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Customs Service, the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, Fullerton and Brea police and the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department participated in the investigation.

Anaheim police, in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies, have been investigating suspicious trucking operations for almost a year that involve Cubans and Colombians from New Jersey, New York and Florida.

Last December, officers arrested seven people and confiscated 5,000 pounds of cocaine bound for the East Coast from a trucking operation with storage sites in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Law enforcement authorities described it as the second largest seizure of the drug in the state.