4 LI men charged in Calif.-LI cocaine ring

Four Suffolk County men have been arrested, charged in connection with a drug-smuggling ring Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said planned to bring $3 million worth of cocaine to Long Island from California using, amongst transport methods, luxury automobiles with custom-made secret compartments.

A warrant also has been issued for a California suspect, Spota said.

The announcement Wednesday said authorities seized 32 kilos of cocaine -- about 70 pounds -- with a street value of $3 million, as well as $900,000 in cash, weapons, steroids, money counters, drug paraphernalia and eight automobiles, four of which had secret compartments Spota said was used to hide cocaine and cash being transported from California to Suffolk. The identities of the suspects have not been released, other than that the four were residents of North Babylon, West Babylon, Deer Park and Bay Shore. The other suspect is from West Hollywood, Spota said.

The District Attorney has a news conference scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Hauppauge to detail the alleged smuggling scheme. The automobiles seized during the bust include a Mercedes, a BMW, two Cadillac Escalades, a Jeep Cherokee, a Chrysler 300, a Lexus and a Nissan 350 Z, Spota said.

It was not immediately clear how the ring was broken -- or when the arrests were made.