Drug Task Force Seizes $100M in PCP, Largest Ever

A man and woman were arrested in what authorities described as the biggest PCP bust in memory after 139 gallons of the drug - worth nearly $100 million on the street - was seized by an L.A. County narcotics task force. Long Beach Police Department is a part of L.A. IMPACT.

Darryl Dwayne Burton, 55, and Lagina Bell Huckaby, 31, were arrested Wednesday at a UPS store in Culver City where they were allegedly trying to ship drugs, according to Lt. Scott Fairfield of the Los Angeles Intra-agency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force, or L.A. IMPACT.

"It's the largest PCP seizure I've ever heard of," he said. Enough of the drug was seized to dose nearly 10 million people at cost of about $15 each, authorities said. About $389,000 in cash was seized as part of the investigation.

The investigation stemmed from information received from Drug Enforcement Administration Special Agents in Los Angeles," Lt. Fairfield stated in a press release.

L.A. IMPACT investigators developed the case over a month's time. During that time, investigators learned that a suspect with links to a Los Angeles street gang was actively involved in the manufacturing of PCP, or phencyclidine.

That suspect was allegedly Burton, believed to be an associate of the Bounty Hunter Bloods street gang, Fairfield said. Search warrants were served at two South Los Angeles homes and two storage facilities, Fairfield said. An active drug lab was found in one home, and most of the PCP and chemicals for making it were found in the storage facilities, he said.

Authorities believe the drug ring included at least 10 people locally, and that it was distributing to Texas, New York and Washington, D.C., and other points east. Investigators observed and intercepted suspicious deliveries that were addressed to locations in Texas. They detected a chemical odor emitting from the boxes and tests later confirmed the boxes contained PCP, the task force statement said.

Two semiautomatic rifles were also seized, along with chemicals for making about 500 more gallons of the drug, which induces symptons similar to schizophrenia.

Burton, held in lieu of $3 million bail, and Huckaby, held in lieu of $2 million bail, pleaded not guilty to felony drug charges on Friday, the IMPACT task force stated. Burton has two drug-related convictions, authorities said. They said a gallon of PCP sells for about $12,000 in Los Angeles.

The psychoactive drug with hallucinogenic and neurotoxic effects was originally used as a surgical anesthetic after World War II, but later used only in veterinary medicine because of adverse side effects.

For more on what L.A. IMPACT and its membership and purpose, click here.

For more on our Culver City sister Patch site where this story originated, click here.

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