45 Arrested in Highway Drug Sting, Including Big Rig Truck Drivers

ONTARIO —  A sting operation using an undercover narcotics investigator who drove a big rig truck and used the CB handle “Pop Top” has resulted in the arrest of 45 people, about half of them big rig drivers, on drug charges, state Atty. Gen. John K. Van de Kamp announced Friday.

The two-month probe was a joint effort by the California Highway Patrol and the state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement, and focused on traffic and truck stops in the San Bernardino and Riverside areas. An agent trained to pose as a truck driver and to drive an 18-wheel rig was the central figure in the investigation, which included the purchase of more than $14,500 worth of methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana and heroin.

“Those of us who drive California’s highways can only be terrified by the results of this operation,” Van de Kamp said at a press conference held in a field overlooking a truck stop near the intersection of Interstate 10 and Milliken Avenue, where some of the arrests were made.

A ‘Chilling’ Thought

“Big 18-wheel rigs weighing up to 40 tons are whizzing down that road at 50 to 70 m.p.h,” Van de Kamp said. “The thought that their drivers might be under the influence of drugs is chilling.”

“Offers to buy and sell drugs fairly crackle over the (CB) airwaves from one end of the Inland Empire to the other,” Van de Kamp said. “Clearly, however, the center of the action is right here in Ontario. . . . Three major truck stops in this city draw hundreds of truckers passing through the region from all over the United States.”

Most of the recent drug purchases were made by a state Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement agent whose activities were monitored by CHP officers. The agent, who asked that his name not be used, often used the handle “Pop Top” when he arranged drug buys from truck drivers and drug dealers over a citizens band radio.

“I had one situation where I was with a group of five drug dealers and prostitutes in the San Bernardino area who gave me lessons on how to spot a narcotics agent,” the agent said. “We arrested three of the five after I purchased drugs from them.”

The agent said drug dealers used pseudonyms for the narcotics they sold. For example, marijuana was called “smoke,” the stimulant methamphetamine was known as “go fast,” and cocaine was referred to as “nose candy.”

Some of the truck drivers he bought drugs from were obviously under the influence of “go fast,” he said. “They were hyper, talking 100 m.p.h. and ricocheting all over the place,” the agent said. “I was glad to get them out of my truck.”

Also at the press conference, CHP Inland Division Chief Robert Hill emphasized that only 5% of the truck drivers in the Riverside and San Bernardino area at a given time are thought to use or sell drugs.

Most Are Professionals

“The majority of the truck drivers are professional in every sense of the word,” Hill said. “It was the same professional drivers who brought the magnitude of the problem in their industry to our attention.”

It was the second such undercover operation conducted this year, Van de Kamp said. In January, undercover officers posing as truck drivers arrested 130 people, including big rig drivers, in the San Joaquin Valley.