Countywide : $20 Million in Cocaine Seized, 18 Arrested

Authorities seized 249 pounds of cocaine and $2.3 million in cash and arrested 18 people following an eight-month investigation by a regional task force, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said Monday.

Those arrested include Samuel Moreno, 46, identified by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department as a “high-level narcotics trafficker” and the “kingpin” of a drug operation.

The drug ring, code-named throughout the investigation as “Telemundo,” operated mainly in Southern California but reached areas throughout the United States, according to a statement from the Sheriff’s Department.

Authorities did not say when or where the narcotics were seized, but the statement said they had a street value of $20 million.

The ring trafficked with narcotics and laundered the transactions’ money, officials said. Task force investigators used wiretaps extensively to close in on the ring, they said.

Among those arrested are 11 Colombians, two of them naturalized U.S. citizens, six Mexican nationals and one American citizen.

The task force includes the Orange County Regional Narcotics Suppression Program, the Los Angeles district attorney, the Inland Regional Narcotics Enforcement Team, Los Angeles Impact, Southeast Cities Against Narcotics, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.