Three Local Men Jailed in Marijuana Smuggling Ring : Drugs: $17 million worth is seized in tanks built in Santa Ana shop and sent to New York, say investigators.

Three Orange County men were arrested in connection with a cross-country drug ring that shipped more than $17 million worth of marijuana in tanks assembled at an interior design shop in Santa Ana, investigators said Friday .

“These guys had a pretty sophisticated operation going,” said Lt. Bob Sayne of the Orange County Regional Narcotics Suppression Program.

Since January, 7,000 pounds of “high-grade” marijuana were shipped from Soussan Interiors, 2950 W. Central St., to the East Coast, Sayne said.

Sayne said Albert Gilbert Soussan, 39, of Laguna Beach, who owns the shop and a warehouse next door, Michael Arthur Flores, 36, of Garden Grove and Martin Ducay Scott, 34, of Anaheim Hills packed the marijuana into steel tanks holding 400 to 500 pounds each, welded them closed and sealed them with silicone to prevent the odor from escaping. They then placed the tanks in larger polished steel containers that resembled marine gasoline tanks, down to the screw-top lid and the lettering, Sayne said.

“This was very professionally done,” he said. “In fact, we had to get the Fire Department to come out and cut through the tank.”

The gasoline tanks were transported from Orange County to New York by commercial freight lines, usually trucks or trains. Once in New York, investigators said, a crew picked up the shipments, cut open the tanks and distributed the marijuana.

The smuggling operation was unraveled after a shipping company became suspicious of the tanks, Sayne said. Since August, investigators have spent “days upon days just watching” Soussan Interiors, he said.

“We started noticing that the man who owned the business didn’t seem to do any business,” Sayne said. “Let’s just put it this way: We didn’t see a lot of clientele.”

The last shipment, which left on Oct. 26, contained 1,000 pounds of marijuana worth $2.5 million, Sayne said. Orange County investigators, working with a shipping company used by the suspects, seized the contraband and had it flown to New York.

On Thursday, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested Joseph James Fuggetta, 35, and Vincent Capece, 42, when they arrived to pick up the tanks in New York, Sayne said. Both are from that city. Maryland resident Steven Berman, 35, also was arrested in connection with the operation.

At the same time, Soussan and Flores were arrested at their homes and Scott was arrested at the interior design shop.

Soussan and Flores were arraigned Friday on federal drug charges and remain in federal custody. Scott remains in the Orange Jail in lieu of a $200,000 bond, Sayne said. The men will be extradited to New York, he said, where the case will be turned over to the U.S. attorney’s office there. They could receive up to 15 years in jail if convicted.

In a separate case, sheriff’s deputies arrested three men and a woman in San Clemente early Friday on suspicion of transporting and smuggling 175 pounds of marijuana.

Just after midnight, deputies in the 2400 block of El Camino Real noticed an older Ford Mustang, apparently out of gas, being pushed by a Pontiac, without lights or towing equipment.

A records check indicated that neither of the drivers or vehicles were licensed, although both licensed plates had 1995 registration tags on them, sheriff’s Lt. Tom Garner said.

With the drivers’ permission, deputies searched the car, discovering $1,500 in cash, two cellular phones, two pagers and, beneath the floor of the Mustang’s trunk, 83 packages of marijuana wrapped in plastic, Garner said.

The four arrested and booked at the Orange County Jail were Juan Salman, 18, of San Diego; Abraham Sahaguin, 20, of Tijuana; Oscar Ramos, 29, of Tijuana and Clementina Mayorquin, 18, of Los Angeles.