Simi Police Seize 2,068 Pounds of Cocaine; 5 Colombians Held

Simi Valley police on Friday announced the largest seizure of cocaine ever by law enforcement officers from Ventura County--2,068 pounds with an estimated street value of $94 million.

The seizure and the arrests of five Colombian nationals, however, were made in Los Angeles County.

Simi Valley Police Chief Lindsey (Paul) Miller said four days of investigation took narcotics detectives from Simi Valley to Newhall and Chatsworth before the arrests.

At 2:30 p.m. Thursday, officers stopped a car under surveillance on the Golden State Freeway in Newhall and found 277 pounds of the drug, Miller said. They arrested the driver, Angelo Alviro, 41, whose address is unknown, Miller said.

Later, investigators served search warrants at houses in Chatsworth and Newhall.

At a house in the 9600 block of Gierson Avenue in Chatsworth, investigators found 1,791 pounds of cocaine in a van parked in the garage and arrested Roceo Campo, 26, Miller said.

At a house in the 25000 block of Wintergreen Court in Newhall, no drugs were found but three people were arrested. They were identified as Efraim Belalclzar, 38, and Derly De La Cruz, 27, both of Newhall, and Francisco Altoreilo, 28, of Sepulveda.

All five were being held on suspicion of possession of a controlled substance.

Miller declined to reveal details of the investigation but said it was connected with his department’s seizure in May of $2.5 million in suspected drug profits and the arrests of one Guatemalan and three Colombian nationals in Simi Valley and Chatsworth. The four were not charged because no drugs were found, but were later deported. The cash was seized under state forfeiture statutes.

He said the investigation that led to the most recent arrests is continuing. He noted that his department was joined by federal agents, Ventura County sheriff’s deputies and the district attorney’s office.

Responding to a U. S. Attorney General’s report earlier this month, which said Southern California is an importing point for as much as half the cocaine brought to the United States, Miller said large busts may become more prevalent.

Despite the size of the seizure, Miller said he believes that more cocaine is being distributed.

“This is not the destruction” of this one drug ring, he said. But “it will set them back.”

Miller spoke at a news conference at which bundles of the drug were displayed. Packaged in burlap and newspaper, they were marked with codes that police had not deciphered. Some were wrapped in plastic marked Coca-Cola.