| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
Two arrested in big Ontario drug bust
Friday August 15, 2003ONTARIO, Calif. (AP) Police seized an estimated $8 million worth of cocaine and arrested two men in what they called one of the largest drug busts in recent San Bernardino County history.
Mario Illan Contreras, 33, of Colima, Mexico, and Heliodoro Cordova, 32, of Bell Gardens, were caught holding some packages of the drugs when officers raided an Ontario home early Tuesday morning, said Sgt. David Williams of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
Twenty officers raided the Ontario home and seized about 226 pounds of cocaine.
Contreras and Cordova are being held at the West Valley Detention center in Rancho Cucamonga on $5 million bail each.
Authorities believe the two are middlemen in the large-scale operation.
``These are not street-level dealers,'' said Williams.
Authorities found an M-11 machine gun and two handguns during the raid, as well as $50,000 in cash at another home of the suspects, Sheriff's Department spokesman Chip Patterson said.
``Because of the magnitude of this bust, we are extremely proud that all the members of the team were able to work together to get those drugs off the streets,'' Williams said.
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