17 Arrested, $3 Million Worth of Cocaine Confiscated in Raids

Seventeen suspected drug traffickers were in custody on Thursday following a series of raids in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties in which narcotics agents recovered $3 million worth of cocaine and more than $400,000 in cash, authorities said.

Torrance Police Lt. David Marsden, a spokesman for an interagency task force that conducted the Wednesday raids, said the arrests will hamper a Southern California drug ring that police estimate earns $20 million a year.

“We didn’t break them, but we put a dent in them,” said Marsden, of the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Task Force, known as LA IMPACT. “It was a good solid cell group with roots deep into Mexico, and I’m sure they were running the border consistently.”

One of the suspects, Pedro Barraza Lopez, 42, was being held for attempted murder after six officers burst into a Paramount house that police said was a drug distribution center.

Marsden said that as three officers moved into the living room of the house, in the 15500 block of Orange Avenue, Lopez allegedly fired three shots through a closed bedroom door, missing one of the officers by inches.

Officers from the task force served warrants at eight locations in Pomona, Paramount, Fontana, Rialto and La Puente during the raids.

In addition to the currency and cocaine, officers confiscated more than 30 assault rifles, including several AK-47 and Chinese assault rifles, and several handguns, authorities said.

The 75-member task force, which was formed last year, consists of law enforcement personnel from 42 police agencies.