TIJUANA – An anonymous tip led authorities to one of the largest seizures of drugs tied to the Sinaloa cartel in this city.

Baja California police agents confiscated Tuesday night 83.6 pounds of cocaine and 4.6 pounds of "crystal" methamphetamine and an arsenal in a house in the eastside district of La Presa that served as a distribution hub, according to the State Preventive Police (known as PEP).

The three people detained in the operation said they worked for the Sinaloa cartel, led by Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, the PEP announced Wednesday.

The agency said that its agents went to a building in the Montecarlo neighborhood after an anonymous tipster reported that a drug lab could be found there.

At the location, the agents saw the driver of an Isuzu Rodeo leave his car with a gun in his hand. When they ordered him to drop it, the man ran inside the house. The agents followed inside and detained him.

The man identified himself as Jesús Antonio Márquez Verdugo, 27. The agents confiscated the loaded 9 mm gun he was allegedly carrying.

The agents detained a woman inside the house, identified as Melina Jacobo Ibarra, 27, who was wrapping small packages of crystal meth, with a total weight of 4 pounds, the agency said.

The agents also detained René Vega Castro, a passenger in the Isuzu, who allegedly carried a 9 mm gun; and found on the car seat a .223 caliber weapon that had been modified to launch grenades, the department said.

Under the passenger seat they found a .30-06 rifle and found 161 doses of crystal meth in the glove compartment, as well as 156,400 Mexican pesos ($12,512) and $886 in U.S. currency.

A search of the property yielded 35 packages of cocaine, with a total weight of 83.6 pounds, and two packages of crystal meth, which had a total weight of 4.6 pounds. Agents also seized 35.2 pounds of a substance used to prepare "crystal" meth, the PEP said.

Inside the house, agents found a 9 mm gun, a .380 pistol, 66 clips for an AK-47, three gun clips, a fragmentation grenade and 563 rounds of various calibers.

The Baja California Public Safety Department estimated that the confiscated drugs had a street value of $3.3 million.

Tuesday's seizure occurred at a time when the pace of murders is increasing in the city. State authorities have logged 353 murders in Tijuana this year through Wednesday, about 80 percent believed to be the result of disputes among street drug dealers. Many of the victims had been shot with 9 mm weapons.

Omar.millan@sandiegored.com