[420 Girl]

Mouthing words we also have used to describe the intractable nature of Skid Row's narcotics trade, Los Angeles police Central Division commander Paul Vernon said Monday that " ... it is both ironic and tragic that the country's largest recovery area is also the region's biggest drug bazaar.''

Strangely, his remarks came as he announced a sizable drug bust not on the Row, but on tony Bunker Hill. Police announced they took 60 pounds of pot off the street last week after receiving tip about a Wednesday delivery to someone at the Bunker Hill Tower apartments, 234 S. Figueroa St.

A vehicle matching the description of one given by the tipster drove up at 4 p.m., and cops swarmed in.

"It didn't take the detectives long to realize they had the right car,'' Vernon said. "There was so much weed in the car, they could smell it when they approached the driver's window.''

The value of the weed was said to be $24,000, which "translates into more than 27,000 nickel bags and more than $100,000 in profit for the Skid Row drug dealers,'' Vernon said.

Two men, 33-year-old driver Hector Cabrera of Riverside, and 38-year-old passenger Fernando Padilla of Big Bear, were arrested, while a person who was in the backseat was allowed to walk.

City Attorney Carmen Trutanich recently put a part of Skid Row under a injunction that forbids gang members -- often suspected of coming to Center City East from other areas of L.A. in order to sell drugs -- from congregating there.


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