COURTESY OF MAUI POLICE DEPARTMENT About 18 1/2 pounds of cocaine worth about $838,200, six pounds of crystal methamphetamine worth $687,000 and some $114,000 in cash (below) were among items seized Friday in a drug bust. CLICK FOR LARGE

BUSTED

The biggest drug seizure in Maui history nets more than 24 pounds of cocaine and "ice"

Maui police also confiscate drug paraphernalia and 4 vehicles

WAILUKU » Two people were set free and two others will be tried in Circuit Court in what police have called the biggest drug bust in Maui County history.

The 18 1/2 pounds of cocaine and six pounds of crystal methamphetamine seized at a Kahului residence totaled more than $1.5 million in street value, according to law enforcement officers.

Also seized Friday from a safe was more than $114,000.

Acting District Judge Barclay MacDonald found enough probable cause to order that Subway Sandwiches & Salads owner Patrick Aniban and his partner, 35-year-old Matthew Otterson, be arraigned in Circuit Court on several charges, including first-degree methamphetamine trafficking and first-degree promotion of a dangerous drug.

Aniban, 43, owns a Subway Sandwich business on Molokai and on Hana Highway in Kahului.

Aniban and Otterson were scheduled to be arraigned in Maui Circuit Court at 8 a.m. Feb. 6.

MacDonald continued their bail at $1.5 million.

Saying the prosecution had failed to show a link with the seized drugs, MacDonald dismissed charges related to drug trafficking against Kula farmer Wallace H. Koga, 57, and Aniban's 33-year-old wife, Ohia, a first-grade teacher at Christ the King school in Kahului.

More than a dozen of Ohia Aniban's friends cheered, and some cried, after MacDonald's ruling.

"She's a good teacher," said Michelei Kahne, a longtime friend whose child attends preschool at Christ the King. "The school is a good school."

Deputy Prosecutor Mark Simond argued that a purse inside the residence contained Ohia Aniban's identification and $1,700 in $20 bills wrapped with ties similar to those of the money in the safe.

COURTESY OF MAUI POLICE DEPARTMENT $114,000 in cash was seized Friday in the drug bust. CLICK FOR LARGE

But MacDonald said the money ties could have been from the family's Subway business, and Ohia Aniban had told police she did not know what keys opened the locks.

MacDonald said while police suspected traces of cocaine were in Koga's truck, the drugs were not tested, and at one point Koga refused to sell drugs to Otterson.

Police also seized four vehicles, a motorcycle, an ounce of processed marijuana and drug paraphernalia.

Police said the arrests stemmed from surveillance and an investigation that began about six months ago.

Authorities allege that Otterson and Aniban went to California to purchase the drugs.

The prosecution has pointed out that Aniban's passport indicates he has traveled to Indonesia and Western Samoa, where drug trafficking is heavy.

Police also executed a search warrant at a business in Kahului on Friday, in addition to the home.

Christ the King has put Ohia Aniban on administrative leave, school officials said yesterday before the preliminary hearing.

Police Capt. Gerald Matsunaga said an investigation was continuing in the case and that more arrests were possible.