4 Drug Ring Suspects Arrested
After arresting four suspected drug traffickers, the Torrance police on Thursday seized an estimated $5 million worth of cocaine and $925,000 in cash in a predawn raid of a Hacienda Heights home that served as a warehouse and shipping depot.
Lt. David G. Marsden, commander of Torrance’s vice and narcotics division, said the three men and one woman are suspected members of an organized cocaine network. Inside the house at 16246 Canelones Drive, Marsden said, were shipping cartons that bore numbers signifying the weight of the drugs brought into the United States and the weight of the cash being shipped out.
The suspects, arrested Wednesday night, are being held in the Torrance jail and are expected to be arraigned today in Los Angeles. They are Jose Benitez, 41, who lived in the Hacienda Heights house; Fernando Perez, 28, of Ontario, and Luis Carlos Gomez, 33, and Betty Pascuas, 22, both of Los Angeles.
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