2 Jailed in Seizure of $1.6 Million Worth of Cocaine
Two Canoga Park men were arrested on charges of possession of more than three pounds of cocaine, worth an estimated $1.6 million, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said Thursday.
Juan Ortiz Palma, 30, and Pedro Lopez, 25, were held at the Santa Clarita sheriff’s station on charges of possession of cocaine for sale, Deputy J. Brent said Thursday.
Their bail was set at $500,000 each.
Deputies from a Palmdale-based narcotics unit, posing as drug dealers, set up the purchase of a kilogram--2.2 pounds--from Palma, Brent said.
Negotiations took place Tuesday in a Canoga Park apartment in the 7100 block of Milwood Avenue near Sherman Way.
The purchase was scheduled for 1 p.m. Tuesday in the apartments’ parking lot.
When Palma arrived, he was arrested and the cocaine was found in the car he was driving, Brent said.
Deputies entered the nearby apartment where the earlier negotiations had taken place, arrested Lopez, and found another half kilogram of cocaine and $7,200, Brent said.
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