$100 Million in Cocaine Seized in Drug Raid
Torrance police have made the biggest drug bust in the department’s history, netting $100 million worth of cocaine in a raid directly related to last week’s arrest of four suspects alleged to be members of a South American drug-trafficking network.
The latest cocaine stash--2,300 pounds--was found Friday night in boxes in bedroom closets in a West Covina house. The day before, police seized 100 pounds of cocaine--worth an estimated $5 million--in a Hacienda Heights house. Investigators spent two weeks trailing the suspects to determine where they were hiding the drugs, according to Torrance Sgt. Ronald E. Traber.
The four, arrested last Wednesday, have been arraigned on drug-trafficking charges and are each being held in Los Angeles County Jail on $5-million bail. They are Luis Carlos Gomez, 33, and Betty Pascuas 22, both of Los Feliz; Fernando Perez, 28, who lived in the West Covina house, and Jose Benitez, 41, who lived in the Hacienda Heights house.
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