Police Arrest 8 in Bust at Suspected Drug Lab

Eight people were arrested, including two from Orange County, when Cypress police discovered 10 pounds of a refined form of methamphetamine called “ice” and a drug lab in a Lincoln Avenue motel, authorities said Sunday.

The arrests came Saturday night after patrolman Ed Bish ran a routine check on the license plate of a Mitsubishi 3000 parked outside the Cypress Suites Motel, said Margaret Mueller, a dispatcher for the Cypress Police Department. The car had been reported stolen by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, Mueller said.

“When he found out it was stolen, he waited and questioned a man who walked up to it,” Mueller said.

With help from federal narcotics agents, police searched rooms in the motel and found the “speed,” with an estimated wholesale street value of $200,000, three loaded firearms, an undisclosed amount of cash, scales and packaging materials used in the manufacture of the drug, Mueller said.

A hazardous waste materials company was also called in to help clean up the chemicals used in the lab, Mueller said.

Police said the suspects included: Felix Davidas, 32, of Garden Grove; Nanette Villones, 29, of La Palma; Christopher Advincula, 28, of Lakewood; Allan Balahadia, 24, of Artesia; Noel Castro, 33, of Glendale; Guillermo Manila, 24, of Cerritos; Alba Bongbong, 39, and George Sotto, 26, both of Los Angeles.

Each suspect was being held at Cypress City Jail on suspicion of manufacturing methamphetamine and possessing the drug for sale, police said. Bail was set at $200,000 each.