SAN FERNANDO : 4 to Be Arraigned in Cocaine Case

Four men--including one from Van Nuys--arrested on suspicion of taking part in a $1-million drug deal involving 100 kilograms of cocaine are scheduled to be arraigned today in San Fernando Municipal Court.

Mario Gomez, 32, of Santa Ana; Jorge Cuellar, 28, and Gonzalo Tavizon Martinez, 42, both of Pomona, and Diego Alonzo Ortiz, 28, of Van Nuys, were arrested late Monday night at a Union Station parking lot in downtown Los Angeles after police said they observed the transaction.

The men are expected to be charged with conspiracy to distribute narcotics. A fifth man observed in the deal eluded arrest. A sixth man was arrested, but was released pending further investigation, San Fernando Police Sgt. Michael Harvey said.

Harvey said his department received an anonymous tip that a drug deal was about to occur. He said police followed the men from Union Station to the Bonaventure Hotel and back to Union Station, where officers watched the men open a box taken from inside a van and remove packages of cocaine.

Harvey said the 100 one-kilogram packages of cocaine--which have an estimated street value of between $5 million and $7 million--had markings of an unknown Colombian drug cartel. He said about two-thirds of the shipment was believed to have been headed for Canada.