HAWAII COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
HILO VICE SECTION
LIEUTENANT HENRY TAVARES
PHONE: 961-2253
OCTOBER 15, 1999
G-08738
MEDIA RELEASE
Hilo Vice Section officers and State Narcotics Enforcement Division personnel arrested a 40-year-old man after a high speed chase Friday (October 15, 1999) in the Panaewa Farmlots area of South Hilo.
During an investigation, the officers at 2:10 p.m. moved in on what appeared to be a drug transaction.
The suspect fled in a Jeep Wrangler, leading officers on a high speed chase. The suspect later abandoned the vehicle at an Auwae Street residence and started running. Vice officers chased him down and arrested him.
Police seized 2.6 pounds of cocaine and more than $80,000 in cash.
The suspect, who is of Mexican descent and who lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, is being held in the Hilo police cellblock pending federal prosecution. Police also will seek forfeiture of the $80,000 seized.
Lieutenant Henry Tavares, head of the Hilo Vice Section, said: “We consider this a major seizure of cocaine. The street value of the drugs seized is estimated at $65,000.”
Tavares noted that increasing amounts of hard drugs are being imported to the Big Island, principally from Mexico.
“We will continue our interdiction efforts to curtail the flow of illegal drugs to the Big Island,” Tavares said.
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