STATE PATROL ANNOUNCES RECORD COCAINE BUST

Oct. 6, 2000 - The Colorado State Patrol announced Thursday that it has
arrested a Tucson man near Pueblo in connection with the largest single
cocaine seizure ever made by the patrol.

Troopers found 75 kilograms of cocaine, valued on the street at $1.4
million, in a suitcase, spare tire and hidden compartments of a 1998 Ford
Expedition. It was packaged in bricks that were 2 inches thick, 6 inches
long and 4 inches wide and wrapped in duct tape, according to Trooper
Richard Breece, spokesman for the patrol.

"It's the biggest cocaine seizure the State Patrol has made - in one shot,
anyway," Breece said.

A trooper stopped the vehicle Sept. 20 on Interstate 25 about 15 miles
south of Pueblo because it was weaving, Breece said. The driver, identified
as 39-yearold Conrado Gaxila Valenzuela, was not intoxicated but was tired
because he'd been driving since he left Tucson.

Breece said announcement of the arrest was delayed until after agents
attempted to nab the intended recipients.

"The guy said he was cooperating with us," Breece said.

Agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration's Southern Colorado Task
Force accompanied Valenzuela to Illinois, but "it didn't work out," Breece
said.

Valenzuela will be tried in the federal courts and is being held in a
federal facility.