Surveillance Leads to Cocaine Seizure Worth $120 Million

Authorities seized 1,248 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $120 million and arrested six people at a Riverside home, Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates said Saturday.

The seizure, which occurred late Friday, was one of the largest ever in Southern California. In April 1986, Los Angeles police and U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency investigators confiscated 1,748 pounds of the drug worth an estimated $500 million in what officials described as the largest cocaine bust in California history. Another 1,133 pounds valued at $226 million was discovered during a North Hollywood arrest last December.

The Riverside raid, which followed five days of around-the-clock surveillance in Orange and Riverside counties, yielded 500 pounds of cocaine in a motor home and 748 pounds stored in a plywood box.

Investigators said they also discovered five empty containers during the raid that were apparently used for cocaine, prompting them to suggest that the suspects had recently sold an enormous amount of the drug. “We probably missed another 5,000 pounds by a few days,” said Gates, whose officers participated in the investigation.

Jailed Without Bail

Arrested were Mario Fernandez-Kincade, 39, and Lourdes Fernandez-Kincade, both Cubans from the Miami area, and Marco Antonio Castro-Ontiveros, 43, of San Ysidro. All are being held at the Orange County Jail without bail.

Also arrested were Herman Garcia, 43, Patricia Martinez Garcia, 37, and Gabriel Garcia Ceballos, 23, residents of the house where the cocaine was found. Herman Garcia was held without bail at the Orange County Jail, while the others were held in lieu of $500,000 bail each.

The investigation began Monday after U.S. Customs officials informed Orange County authorities that Mario and Lourdes Fernandez-Kincade were suspected of being in Orange County to deal in drugs, Gates said.

The Orange County Regional Narcotic Suppression Program, which conducted the surveillance and made the arrests, is a joint task force of 10 police departments, the Sheriff’s Department, the FBI, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Internal Revenue Service.