SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Four men allegedly bringing several dozen pounds of drugs through the coastal North County were arrested today following a road chase from Solana Beach to Carlsbad, authorities said.
The pursuit began about 10:30 a.m., when detectives tried to pull over a vehicle with five people in it on Interstate 5 near Lomas Santa Fe Drive, according to sheriff's officials.
The driver refused to yield, continuing on to the north for about four miles before exiting onto Encinitas Boulevard, Sgt. Bill Kerr said.
There, one of the passengers, 24-year-old Gabriel Albert Delosreyes, got out of the vehicle and allegedly made a futile attempt to escape on foot.
As deputies chased down Delosreyes, the fleeing driver -- later identified as Juan Manuel Villalobos, 28 -- got back onto I-5 and went north for several more miles, then exited at La Costa Avenue and headed east along the southern shoreline of Batiquitos Lagoon, Kerr said.
Reaching a residential area off Levante Street and Caminito Monarca, just east of El Camino Real, Villalobos pulled over, jumped out of the vehicle and ran off with his remaining companions.
One of the four, an unidentified woman, managed to escape, but deputies quickly captured Villalobos along with cohorts Marcos Martinez, 34, and 26-year-old Eddie Anthony Navarro.
Inside the trunk of the car Villalobos had been driving, deputies found a truck tire with 25 1/2 pounds of methamphetamine stashed inside it, according to Kerr.
"Small amounts of other drugs were also found on the suspects,'' the sergeant said.
The arrestees were expected to face various criminal charges, including possession of an illicit narcotic for sale, illegal transportation of a controlled substance and conspiracy.
