A Mexican national who was pulled over after driving alone in a freeway car-pool lane on Thursday was arrested on suspicion of possessing of six kilos of uncut heroin, police said.
Rialto officers assigned to the Street Crime Attack Team stopped the car at about noon on the eastbound 210 Freeway at Ayala Street.
"The driver, Ricardo Quinterovasqez, 31 of Fontana , had a suspended license and inside the car were several suitcases," said Rialto police spokeswoman Noretta Barker. "They called out a police dog to search the vehicle and the K-9 alerted officers to the possible odor of narcotics."
Officers said the almost pure heroin discovered in the suitcases had a street value of more than $500,000 and were packaged in individual vacuum-sealed kilos.
Investigators believe the heroin belongs to a Mexican cartel because of the way it is packaged but couldn't immediately confirm that, authorities said.
"We are still fresh in the investigation," said Barker. "Detectives are trying to pinpoint the exact destination of the heroin and where it came from."
Police didn't disclose the make of the car he was driving.
Quinterovasqez was booked into West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga and is being held on $1 million bail, authorities said.
In late August the U.S. Attorney's Office indicted several members of the Mexican Mafia prison gang and members of the Mexican drug cartel La Familial Michoacan in connection with the smuggling of drugs from Mexico.
In August raids, 17 members associated with the gangs were arrested on suspicion of drug-, firearms- and trafficking-related crimes in Ontario, the San Gabriel Valley, Pomona, Riverside and Montclair.
Three gang members indicted were already in custody for unrelated charges, according to the FBI.
"This is a great start," an undercover detective said about Thursday's arrest. "It hurts them where it counts - in the pocketbook."
909-386-3925, @crimeshutterbug
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