Major O.C. Drug Bust Revealed : Investigation: Anaheim police seized $130 million in cocaine and arrested six men suspected of working for Colombian cartel in probe that began in February.

Six men were arrested after police confiscated about 3,600 pounds of cocaine--worth more than $130 million--in two investigations, marking it one of the largest drug seizures for Anaheim narcotics officers, authorities announced Tuesday.

Four men, who are suspected of working for a Colombian drug cartel, were arraigned Monday in federal court in Los Angeles and charged with conspiracy to possess and distribute cocaine, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Jeff Sinek.

The four--Louis Angel Cortez, 40, of Palmdale, Teofilo Lopez, 47, of Huntington Park, Witaliy Samoiliw, 52, of Arcadia and Fernando Gonzalez de la Torre, 33, of Mexico--were being held without bail in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, Sinek said.

The amount of cocaine seized points to a recent trend by smugglers to bring smaller loads of the drug into the United States in hope of reducing losses if discovered, said DEA spokesman Ralph Lochridge.

“We’re seeing more smaller distribution, more worker bees and less of the larger loads in one locale,” Lochridge said. A few years ago, he said, smugglers were bringing in several thousand pounds of cocaine at a time, up to about three tons on average.

Lochridge said smugglers are now averaging 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of cocaine per shipment into the United States.

Anaheim police began investigating the four suspects in February after arresting two other men near Needles and seizing 1,400 pounds of cocaine the men are suspected of preparing to ship to the East Coast.

The two arrested in that case, Eual B. Wallace, 44, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. and Sidney Jones, 36, of Phoenix, are awaiting trial in Los Angeles next month, federal agents said Tuesday.

Anaheim police said information from the first case led them to Palmdale, where they began watching Cortez. Over the next few weeks, Cortez unwittingly lead investigators to a Palmdale stash house and the three other suspects, police said.

Then agents followed the three other suspects, who led agents to other locations where the cocaine was stored. During a May 6 sweep, police confiscated an additional 2,223 pounds of cocaine from homes in Huntington Park, Arcadia and Palmdale, police said Tuesday. Anaheim police said they would keep the cocaine as evidence for at least two years before disposing of it.

Police said the investigation is continuing and detectives were trying to find out if the same drug-smuggling cartel is involved in the two cases.

The seizures come at a time when some Orange County authorities have made public calls to re-examine the nation’s drug laws. Superior Court Judge James P. Gray, who last year called for legalizing some narcotics, has helped circulate a resolution nationwide that calls for President Clinton and Congress to appoint a federal commission to recommend changes in existing policies.

The Crystal Cathedral’s Rev. Robert H. Schuller has become one of the latest prominent supporters of that resolution, which calls for changes because current drug laws are not slowing the flow or the use of drugs.

Anaheim Police Chief Joseph T. Molloy, who joined other officials at a press conference to announce the recent police seizures, criticized Gray’s call for legalizing certain drugs.

But, he added, “I don’t think anybody would disagree that we need to go back and we need to revisit what we’re doing. . . . I think it only makes good sense to do that. I absolutely have a problem when people say we need to legalize it.”