Officers Seize $10.2 Million in Cocaine, Cash; 3 Arrested

Orange County narcotics officers have seized about $1.2 million in cash and about $9 million worth of cocaine from three men suspected of money laundering and drug possession, authorities announced Thursday.

Detectives arrested Luis Roberto Angulo, 24, of Los Angeles, Jacques William Martin, 27, of Michigan and Manuel Antonio Jimenez, 31, of Michigan after pulling over them over in North Hollywood.

The three were being held in Los Angeles Central Jail in lieu of $1-million bail each, said Tim Simon, a spokesman for the Regional Narcotics Suppression Program and a captain in the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

They are scheduled for arraignment today in Los Angeles, said Curt Hazell, a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney.

After a week of surveillance in several locations in Los Angeles County, detectives arrested Angulo on Wednesday afternoon. Using a search warrant, officials inspected his Cadillac’s trunk and seized about $100,000 in cash in a canvas bag.

A search of a Sierra Madre residence turned up $900,000 in cash and 125 kilos of cocaine, authorities said. Detectives found an additional $200,000 in cash during a search of a house in Los Angeles, Simon said.

“We feel pretty confident of the fact that these three people involved have been pretty well schooled to evade law contact,” Simon said. “Certainly these people have the wherewithal to move a large amount of money.”

Simon said authorities used information from previous cases in Orange County to locate the three suspects.