4 1/2 Tons of Cocaine Seized by Agents Off Mexico Coast : Drugs: DEA agents acting as freight haulers make largest bust ever recorded in a federal sting.

SAN DIEGO —  U.S. drug agents have arrested six alleged smugglers and confiscated 4 1/2 tons of cocaine, the largest amount ever in a federal undercover operation, law enforcement officials said here Wednesday.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents posing as illegal freight haulers took delivery of the cocaine off the Mexican coast about 1,600 miles south of San Diego, U.S. Atty. William Braniff said.

The cocaine, worth an estimated $80 million, is the largest quantity seized in a federal drug sting of unwitting smugglers, Braniff said, although larger amounts have been recovered in raids.

A drug ring thought to be the infamous Medellin cartel shipped the 4,100 kilograms of cocaine by ocean freighter from Colombia to the undercover agents, DEA officials said.

Cartel members gave undercover agents more than $800,000, thinking they were paying to transfer 198 hay-bale-sized packages of cocaine from Mexico to San Diego, U.S. Customs Special Agent in Charge Jack Kelley said Wednesday at a news conference in National City.

Investigators monitored drug shipment arrangements between smugglers in the United States and Colombia by tapping a cellular phone provided to the smugglers by undercover agents, DEA officials said.

Two Colombia-based members of the cartel were identified through the taped conversations, said DEA Special Agent in Charge Julius Beretta.

Yesid Rodriguez-Barrerro and a man using an alias of Pedro Pablo remain at large, Assistant U.S. Atty. Shane P. Harrigan said.

They and the six people arrested last month were named in a federal indictment handed down Wednesday. They were accused of conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine.

Arrested Nov. 23 and 24 were: Jack Donald Holloway, 45, a U.S. citizen living in Colombia; Humberto Mena, 32, of Los Angeles; William Osorio, 27, of Huntington Beach; Elsie Londono-Berrio, 43, of Brea; Jose Alberto Espinoza-Cortez, 26, of Van Nuys, and Edgardo Sandoval-Rodriguez, 25, of Pasadena. Holloway was arrested at an undercover agent’s house in Carlsbad. The others were arrested at residences and warehouses in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

According to federal sentencing guidelines, the defendants face a minimum 10 years in prison for each charge, if convicted. The maximum sentence is life in prison, Harrigan said.

The 18-month investigation began when a DEA informant introduced Holloway to undercover agents. Holloway is thought to be a cartel go-between, in charge of arranging shipments across the border from Mexico, officials said.

The 19-page indictment details negotiations between Holloway and two DEA agents as they met around Southern California.

In a hotel room in Encinitas, a house in Carlsbad and at restaurants in Del Mar and San Juan Capistrano, Holloway met undercover agents who arranged the transport of cocaine. Agents provided Holloway with the cellular phone and two satellite communications systems to facilitate the transport.

In one of the meetings, the cartel promised to pay $4 million to undercover agents who were to deliver the cocaine to distributors in Southern California, Kelley said. The arrests took place before the cocaine could be distributed on the street level, Kelley said.

The cartel had also proposed another, larger cocaine transfer this month, but the deal was scuttled after news of the arrests was received in Colombia.

Also involved in the investigation were the San Diego district attorney’s office, Carlsbad Police Department, U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard, U. S. Customs Service, Internal Revenue Service and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.