Santa Ana Police Find Cocaine in Pomona Garage; 4 Held

POMONA —  Santa Ana police officers acting on a hunch arrested four men on suspicion of drug violations after about 823 pounds of cocaine worth about $7.8 million was found in a garage here, authorities said Friday.

Police booked the four men, all from Mexicali, Mexico, into the Pomona city jail late Thursday, police reported. Each was being held on $5-million bail.

The men are Juan Baducuki Fernandez, 29; Guadalupe Higuera Haro, 32; Joselino Ojeda Camacho, 35, and Gustavo Angulo Camacho, 29, Santa Ana police Sgt. Gary Bruce said.

Bruce said Santa Ana police officers were investigating an unrelated case in East Los Angeles about 12:50 p.m. Thursday when they saw a suspicious-looking car beside them. Although there were only two adults and two children in the car, it looked as though it was being dragged down by other cargo, he said.

“Based on their expertise of narcotics investigations, a decision was made to terminate their existing investigation and follow the other car,” Bruce said. “A pretty good hunch.”

The investigators trailed the car to a Pomona home, where the car went into a garage, Bruce said. Officers stayed outside and watched.

About 5:15 p.m., the car came out of the garage “riding high,” Bruce said, as though weight had been removed. Officers stopped the car and checked various passenger compartments, where they found more than 68 pounds of cocaine, he said.

The officers then got a search warrant and raided the garage, where they allegedly found more than 754 more pounds of the drug, police said.