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In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors.
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Two arrested in big Ontario drug bust
Friday August 15, 2003
ONTARIO, 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.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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