Third pound of meth seized this week

Trouble arrived by the pound again Wednesday in Linda.

An undercover drug agent arranged to buy a pound of methamphetamine from two sellers who were arrested at about 2 p.m. when they arrived at the Linda Wal-Mart parking lot from the Bay Area, said Mike Hudson, commander of the Yuba-Sutter Narcotic Enforcement Team, or NET-5.

It was the third pound of meth seized this week and the latest indicator of a troubling trend — meth arriving by the pound in Yuba-Sutter, often from Mexico, said Hudson.

"It's coming by air, land and sea" from Mexican drug cartels, said Hudson, who's also an agent with the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement.

Juan Arias Caro, 38, of Concord, and Porfirio Carl Becerra, 32, of Oakley, were booked into the Yuba County Jail. Becerra previously sold meth to the same undercover agent, Hudson said.

Becerra received the latest batch from 23-year-old Omar Figueroa, a "multi-pound dealer" who was arrested Wednesday in Concord, said Hudson.

Figueroa told investigators he lives in Fairfield but he is believed to live in San Ramon.

Hudson and Yuba County Sheriff Steve Durfor displayed plastic bags containing two pounds of crystal meth seized Monday in the parking lot of the FoodMaxx store in Linda. The drugs allegedly were being delivered by two men to Almiro Gonzalez who, according to Hudson, was selling large quantities of meth from his Olivehurst restaurant, Taqueria Gonzalez.

"They were selling more meth than food," Hudson said.

Judging by its packaging, the two pounds seized Monday came from Mexico, where it's frequently being produced following a crackdown on large-scale meth labs in California, he said.

Hudson said the origin of the pound seized Wednesday has not been determined.

An undercover agent offered to pay $24,000 a pound for the drugs seized Monday. They could have fetched $70,000 on the street, possibly more if they'd been adulterated with Vitamin B or baby laxative, he said.

The arrests this week are the result of cooperation between state and local agencies aimed at keeping meth, heroin and other drugs out of Yuba-Sutter neighborhoods, said Durfor.

Contact Appeal reporter Rob Young at 749-4710 or at ryoung@appealdemocrat.com