U.S. ARRESTS 50 IN MEXICAN DRUG RING PROBE

More than 50 suspects were arrested yesterday in an international narcotics
investigation targeting a suspected Mexican drug operation that sent tons
of cocaine and marijuana annually into the United States.

U.S. authorities, led by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and
the U.S. Customs Service, took the suspects into custody following raids in
New York, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, Mississippi and Texas. Another 50
suspects are still being sought.

The State Department was offering a $2 million reward for the suspected
kingpin, Osiel Cardenas-Guillen, and two of his top lieutenants, Adan
Medrano and Juan Manual Garza-Rendon. Cardenas-Guillen has openly
threatened U.S. drug agents and is known for violent purges of his own
organization.

The arrests are part of an undercover investigation known as "Operation
Impunity II," which began in October 1999. It is the third major probe by
the DEA since 1997 of the Cardenas-Guillen ring, which operates out of
Reynosa and Matamoros, Mexico.

DEA officials said the Cardenas-Guillen operation was put together from the
remnants of two other drug rings formerly led by Amado Carrillo Fuentes and
Juan Garcia Abrego.

Carrillo Fuentes, known as the "Lord of the Skies," was considered Mexico's
No. 1 drug smuggler. He died in Mexico City in 1997 after plastic surgery
in a failed attempt to alter his appearance. Garcia Abrego was extradited
to the United States, tried and convicted.

Mexican authorities, who assisted in the undercover probe, were seeking
suspects in that country on eight warrants issued by U.S. courts. Another
warrant was sent to the Dominican Republic for police there to arrest a
Dominican national.

The Mexican attorney general's office announced the arrest of three
Colombians, Ruben Dario Nieto Benjumea, Gustavo Adolfo Londono Zapata and
Elkin F. Cano Villa. Mexican authorities also seized several properties
belonging to Cardenas-Guillen.

Cardenas-Guillen was indicted, along with seven associates, in the last
several weeks in Brownsville, Texas, on charges of conspiracy to distribute
drugs and for assaulting federal officers. The indictments were unsealed
yesterday.

The assault charges, the DEA said, stem from a Nov. 9, 1999, incident when
a DEA agent and an FBI agent were surrounded at midday on the street in
Matamoros by more than a dozen men armed with AK-47 and AR-15 assault
weapons and gold-plated .45-caliber pistols.

The DEA said Cardenas-Guillen stuck his head and a submachine gun into the
agents' car and threatened to kill them. The agents, however, convinced him
that their deaths would not be in his best interest.

"We are sending a clear and strong message that no one can threaten or harm
a federal agent with impunity," said DEA Administrator Donnie R. Marshall.
"Make no mistake, if you harm a special agent, we will spare no effort to
ensure that you are brought to justice."

Before yesterday's raids, Operation Impunity II had netted 82 arrests,
$10.8 million in cash, 9,000 pounds of marijuana and 5,266 kilograms of
cocaine. Overall, the three operations produced 248 arrests and seized $36
million, 25,000 pounds of marijuana and 21,000 kilograms of cocaine.

"The rules of evidence force us to periodically take down parts of this
operation, but the three operations show we're not stopping. We keep
hitting them," said Joseph Keefe, who heads the DEA's special operations
division. "We've affected them, and forced them into new alliances to keep
functioning."

Attorney General Janet Reno said the success of Operation Impunity II was
"largely the result of the outstanding coordination between federal, state
and local law enforcement officials and prosecutors across the country."

The DEA said the Cardenas-Guillen gang smuggled cocaine from Colombia into
this country hidden under tractor-trailer loads of carrots, cilantro and
lettuce.

They said nearly 60 percent of each shipment was moved to New York and
turned over to Colombian and Dominican distribution cells.

The other 40 percent was kept by the Mexican-led gang as payment for the
smuggling operation and was shipped to their cells in Chicago, Houston,
Memphis, Tenn., and Columbus, Ohio, for distribution by their own people.