BELL GARDENS : Police Say Drug Ring Broken Up With 13 Arrests

Federal agents and local police said they broke up a methamphetamine-trafficking organization in the Bell Gardens area with the arrests of the two alleged ringleaders and 11 others.

Investigators believe the ring, allegedly headed by two brothers, sold about 10 pounds of the drug each month to gang members and others, said John D’Angelo of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

The arrests Tuesday, which followed the execution of 18 search warrants Tuesday morning, were the result of a six-month undercover investigation, D’Angelo said.

Mark Barba, 26, and his brother, Hermino, 23, allegedly ran the drug distribution ring from their homes in Bell Gardens, D’Angelo said. The others who were taken into custody allegedly sold the drug.

ATF agents and Bell Gardens police officers seized five pounds of methamphetamine, worth an estimated $30,000 on the street, in Tuesday’s raids, D’Angelo said. They also netted two pounds of marijuana, eight guns, including a sawed-off shotgun, and about $15,000 in cash, he said.