Two men arrested on drug charge

By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — Two men were charged with first-degree promotion of a dangerous drug yesterday after they were caught with a parcel containing cocaine in Waimea, police said.

Mexican nationals Lazaro Mendoza Cardenas, 42, and Miguel Angel Torres Andres, 36, both with a Waimea address, are being held in the Hilo police cellblock in lieu of $200,000 bail each, police said.

Police said the two were arrested Thursday after a UPS parcel shipped from Mexico was intercepted by the U.S. Customs Service in Kentucky.

A drug-sniffing dog singled out the package, and customs agents discovered nearly an ounce of cocaine in the parcel, which was addressed to Lazaro C. Mendoza of Kipahele Street in Waimea.

Big Island police assisted by agents from the U.S. Customs Service and Immigration and Naturalization Service made what they called a "controlled delivery" to the Kipahele Street address.

Once the parcel was opened, officers, who had a warrant, searched the address and arrested the two men. Police said the men were found next to the opened parcel with purple dye on their hands, indicating they had opened the package.

The cocaine had a street value of about $26,000, police said.