2 1/2 Tons of Cocaine Seized; 6 Suspects Linked to Cali Cartel

Six suspects were arraigned in Los Angeles federal court Friday after the seizure of 2 1/2 tons of cocaine--worth an estimated $240 million--at a house in Pasadena and a truck stop and hotel in Ontario, federal officials said.

Ordered held without bail were Dionison Vasquez, 37, and Nicholas Saltaris, 24, both of Miami; Leon Angel Valencia, 45, of Glendale; Jose Gonzales Perez, 30, and Eufemio Perez, 40, both of New York City; and Marlene Romero, 41, of Pasadena. Federal authorities identified the six as members of Colombia’s Cali drug cartel.

Ralph Lochridge, a spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, said Vasquez and Saltaris were arrested late Thursday at the truck stop near Interstates 10 and 15. About 260 pounds of cocaine was found in the cab of their refrigerated tractor-trailer rig, the agents said.

The agents said Valencia and the two men from New York were taken into custody at a nearby hotel a short time later.

More than 4,600 pounds of cocaine were found when agents arrested Romero at her home in the 3100 block of Orange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena on Friday, Lochridge said.

The arrests and seizures were made by DEA agents, police from the cities of Ontario and Riverside and deputies from the San Bernardino and Riverside county sheriff’s departments, officials said. Lochridge said the suspects had been under investigation for more than two years.

While big, the haul by the DEA Riverside Task Force is far smaller than the record 21.4 tons of cocaine taken from a Sylmar warehouse in 1989.