SAN FERNANDO VALLEY : 5 Arrested at Restaurant in Narcotics Ring Bust

Federal drug enforcement officials announced Tuesday that they dismantled a San Fernando Valley-based narcotics ring that provided large quantities of speed, cocaine and heroin .

The March 28 bust at a Burbank restaurant resulted in the arrests of five of the ring’s six alleged members. The sixth is considered a fugitive and may be residing in the east Valley, said U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Ralph Lochridge.

“It appears that this is the core of this particular drug ring,” he said. “They’ve been operating in the east part of the San Fernando Valley, and they’ve been dealing and picking up drugs in pool halls and Latin and Mexican clubs.”

The suspects, who have been indicted on federal drug possession and weapons charges, did not make the 20 pounds of methamphetamine that they delivered to an undercover DEA agent at the Bombay Bicycle Club, Lochridge said.

Two days earlier, Lochridge said, the agents agreed to buy 40 pounds of the drug at $4,500 per pound, but the alleged dealers said they could only supply half that amount. Still, he said, it translated into thousands of doses worth nearly $1 million on the street.