Large Cache of Heroin Seized at Airport
SANTA ANA — An airline passenger was accused of trying to smuggle luggage packed with black tar heroin in one of the largest drug busts at John Wayne Airport, authorities said Tuesday.
Juan Carlos Loya-Vallejo, 34, of Mexico was being held at Orange County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail, said Lt. Tom Garner, spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
Loya-Vallejo was arrested Monday afternoon after allegedly presenting bogus identification to a ticket agent and trying to board a flight to Seattle, Garner said.
Security officials detained the man, and a subsequent search by sheriff’s narcotic investigators led to the seizure of heroin equal to about 111,400 street-sales doses, Garner said.
Investigators said the drugs have a street value of $2.2 million.
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