Officers seize 126 kilos of cocaine

By Wesley Young

July 24, 2000 Web posted at: 4:13 PM EDT (2013 GMT)

WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Winston-Salem Journal) -- Winston-Salem police are calling it the biggest drug case they've broken.

Ten people were arrested yesterday and authorities seized almost 280 pounds of cocaine -- 126 kilograms -- with a street value of $12.6 million. Police also seized 250 pounds of marijuana worth $800,000.

''I think this will be a major setback for whoever owns the dope, bought the dope and plans to distribute it,'' said Captain Byron L. Jones, of the Winston-Salem Police Department's Special Investigations Division.

Undercover officers began making arrests about noon as they posed as delivery workers to complete a shipment of drugs that had been previously intercepted in San Antonio by Texas state investigators. The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation also helped on the case.

Texas authorities told police Thursday that they had seized parcels sent through United Parcel Service addressed to locations in Winston-Salem. North Carolina law enforcement took over the shipments, and undercover officers here delivered them to their destinations.

Police staked out each house where a delivery took place, Jones said. Officers said they encountered no resistance as they delivered the drugs and arrested the recipients.

Investigators were surprised by the size of the seizure. Officers stopped by the delivery bay at the police department yesterday just to watch undercover officers unpack the drugs.

The cocaine was packaged in 1-kilogram ''bricks,'' each carefully shrink-wrapped in plastic and coated with grease and oil to hide the odor. Wrapped kilograms had been packed in wooden crates, which were put in cardboard moving boxes about 18 inches wide.

Both undercover and uniformed officers were smiling as they looked over the seizure. ''For our guys it is mind-boggling,'' Jones said. ''We were not expecting this much.''

The arrests do not close the investigation, Jones said.

Officers gathered information that could be used to make more arrests. The raids occurred at houses on Academy Street, State Street off New Walkertown Road, Tise Avenue and Page Street in northeast Winston-Salem; Cole Road in Waughtown; and Kentucky Avenue in eastern Winston-Salem.

The seizure caused a problem for one magistrate when he discovered that the new computer system that handles warrant and bond forms would not accept the $20 million bond amount he set for most of the suspects.

Those arrested were German Santiago-Zuloaga, 32, of 112 State St.; Francisco Martinez-Vazguez, 29, address unknown; Herminio Martinez Penaloza, 26, of 1108 Marne St.; Ponciano Carlos Duarte, 31, of 4121 Tise Ave.; Edarigio Folis Carlos, 29, of 1303 Williamson St.; Able Reyes Menera, 49, of 5014 Page St.; Jesus Eduardo Rosas-Zuloago, 25, of 112 State St.; Fausto Ruiz Vargus, 35, of 2090-1 Cole Road; Blanca Sanchez Zuluaga, 29, of 1109-5 Academy St.; and Yolanda Aguirre Ayala, 43, of 1109-5 Academy St.

Most of the suspects face charges of trafficking in cocaine and marijuana and conspiracy to traffic in cocaine and marijuana. The suspects were still being processed at the magistrate's office last night, so exact charges and bond amounts were not available.

Police seized $20,000 to $30,000 in cash along with the drugs.

Jones said that the arrests were satisfying for his officers. ''It is what they work for,'' he said.

Despite the seizure, there's still a big drug problem, Jones said. ''For us, it is frightening to think . . . what goes up and down the highways that we miss,'' he said.

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