NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Glenn County officials have made two significant cocaine busts this month, both involving vehicles traveling along Interstate 5.
The cash value of the two busts totals about $3.9 million, according to Glenn Interagency Narcotics Task Force officials.
The two cases began with traffic stops, one on Aug. 1 and the second on Aug. 10.
In the first case, GLINTF in conjunction with the California Highway Patrol conducted an enforcement stop on a vehicle heading northbound on I-5 north of Orland for vehicle violations.
Agents searched the vehicle, located 30 kilograms of cocaine with an approximate street value of $3 million and arrested the driver, 27-year-old Los Angeles resident Andres Guzman, officials reported.
The Drug Enforcement Administration, which assisted in the investigation, subsequently took Guzman into custody on federal charges, placing him on a no bail hold, according to GLINTF.
In the second case on Aug. 10, the CHP stopped a vehicle traveling northbound on Interstate 5 north of Willows for vehicle violations, officials said.
CHP officers located a hidden compartment with a suspected controlled substance inside and requested GLINTF's assistance to continue the investigation.
When agents searched the vehicle they located 9 kilograms of cocaine in a hidden compartment with an approximate street value of $900,000, GLINTF reported.
The driver, Isidro Martinez-Olmos, 25, of Portland, Ore., and passenger Jose Hernandez-Ruiz, 36, of Vancouver, Wash., were both arrested and booked into the Glenn County Jail on charges of possession of a controlled substance for sale, transportation of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance and having a false compartment.
Glenn County officials said bail for both Martinez-Olmos and Hernandez-Ruiz initially was set at $3,010,000, with no-bail immigration holds added.
Officials said the investigations are ongoing.