DRIVER'S COCAINE HAUL: $23 MILLION, POLICE SAY

Police said Friday they have confiscated an estimated $23 million
worth of pure cocaine in what is believed to be the largest drug
seizure in Oakland County history.

A Colombian national, Cesar Augusto Valasquez, 50, a Miami resident
who had been staying at a Southfield motel, was arrested Thursday
morning after a traffic stop by Farmington Hills police.

The cocaine -- 46 kilos wrapped in green tinted cellophane -- was in
the back of his Volvo station wagon, police said. It weighed more
than 100 pounds.

Investigators announced the seizure Friday. "This is not a home run,
this is a grand slam," said Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard.

Valasquez had been under surveillance by the county's Narcotics
Enforcement Team, a group of police officers from several Oakland
County agencies that concentrate on drug trafficking. The team asked
the Farmington Hills police to pull Valasquez over on a traffic stop.
He was not armed, police said, and did not put up a fight.

Bouchard and other investigators declined to comment on whether more
arrests were likely as a result of the seizure.

Valasquez is to be arraigned today on a charge of possession of more
than 650 grams of cocaine. If convicted, he could spend life in
prison. A sheriff's spokesman said the suspect is being held in the
Oakland County Jail.

The largest previous drug seizure in the county was eight years ago
when federal agents confiscated 30 kilos of cocaine.