Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 14, 1995                   TAG: 9503140158
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LISA K. GARCIA STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

POLICE FIND $4 MILLION WORTH OF COCAINE IN VAN

A mother and son from Orange County, Calif., were arrested and each charged with possession of cocaine with intent to distribute after state police seized 396 pounds of cocaine.

Esther Preciado, 59, and her son David, 35, were driving northbound on I-81 near Natural Bridge when Sgt. H.F. Wray stopped them at about 1:30 p.m. for using a radar detector.

After inspecting the conversion van, Wray noticed that gasoline was pouring onto the exhaust pipe and that the gas tank had been altered.

Trooper D.F. Barker and his drug-detection dog were called, and a search by the dog indicated there were drugs in the van, Wray said.

The cocaine was not in a hidden compartment near the gasoline tank, but was hidden in various parts of the van's interior.

State police estimated the drug's street value at more than $4 million, based on the assumption it is 85 percent to 90 percent pure. Lab test results - expected within a week - will determine the drug's purity, Wray said.

It took more than three hours to extract the cocaine from the van after it was towed to a service station near Lexington, he said.

The Preciados were being held in Rockbridge County Jail and were to be arraigned today in Lexington.