Blazing Van Yields a Hot Find: Cocaine

It was just an ordinary-looking van on the freeway, police said.

But it became extraordinary when it caught fire, and stunned firefighters and police found $5 million worth of cocaine inside.

On Wednesday, narcotics investigators had still not determined who was driving the 1977 Dodge van before it went up in flames on the northbound San Diego Freeway at Magnolia Street shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday.

By the time authorities arrived at the scene, the van had been abandoned, but the 185 individually wrapped kilograms (2.2 pounds) of cocaine inside had been left behind, Huntington Beach Police Lt. Charles R. Poe said.

“I don’t think the driver wanted to stick around, all things considered,” Poe said Wednesday.

Poe said officials were shocked by the discovery, which he said is probably part of a large smuggling operation.

“This is a very large amount of cocaine, especially for our city,” he said. “It’s certainly not one of the biggest seizures in the county, but it’s certainly a tremendously large one to stumble upon like this.

“To the best of my knowledge, I don’t know of any other incident in this whole county where someone transporting such a large amount of cocaine had their car catch on fire and have it all burn up,” Poe said.

Police said the fire apparently started in the engine compartment of the van and was caused by a leaking fuel line.

“Our initial investigation indicates that the fire was purely mechanical,” Poe said. “It’s possible that someone rigged it to catch fire, but it just looks like a faulty line.”

A passing motorist noticed the burning van and called the Fountain Valley Fire Department, which then notified Huntington Beach authorities.

Investigators had no suspects Wednesday and did not know who the van belongs to since it apparently has changed ownership several times, Officer Mike Corcoran said.

“The trail is real cold right now,” Corcoran said. “We have no suspects, no leads. Silly as it sounds, what we know is that it was just an everyday-looking van driving down the freeway that was defective, caught fire, and had a lot of cocaine inside.”