Agents seize more than $100,000 in drugs

Regional drug agents intercepted a drug delivery in Clovis Wednesday, seized more than $100,000 in drugs, cash and property and arrested three area residents.

Among items seized was more than $31,000 cocaine and $11,000 worth of meth, according to a press release from the Curry County Sheriff’s Office.

Terming the seizure as “substantial,” Curry County Undersheriff Wesley Waller said Thursday the investigation determined the drugs were destined for distribution in Clovis.

“It is definitely a substantial quantity of narcotics that was seized,” Waller said.“The task force does these operations on a continual basis and on occasion encounters one of this size.”

Jose Julian Lopez-Garcia, 33, of Clovis; Jose Luis Ramirez, 34, of Clovis, and Jaime Ivan Salazar, 25, of Portales, are each charged with four felony counts of conspiracy to traffic cocaine and methamphetamines and tracking cocaine and methamphetamines.

They are being held on $60,000 bonds, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement holds placed on Lopez-Garcia and Ramirez.

Wednesday, agents with the Region V Drug Task Force located a vehicle at an undisclosed motel on Mabry Drive after they received information a large amount of cocaine was being delivered there, the release said.

Inside the vehicle, agents observed a bulk amount of cocaine in plain sight and obtained a search warrant.

State law permits seizure of any property being used to facilitate a crime, and the burden lies on a defendant to prove property was not being used to commit a crime.

Seized items include:

• Approximately one-third of a kilogram of unadulterated cocaine with an estimated street value of $31,300

• 55 grams of methamphetamines, with an estimated street value of $11,000

• $53,000 cash

• Two semi-automatic firearms

• Five cellular telephones

• GPS navigational device

• Digital scales

• 2007 GMC Denali truck