WHITE HOUSE NAMES 12 TO DRUG KINGPIN BLACKLIST

WASHINGTON - The White House on Thursday put 12 suspected international drug
kingpins on a new U.S. government blacklist aimed at financially isolating
traffickers.

The White House submitted the list to Congress late Thursday.

Those named - and their business associates - will have their U.S. assets
frozen and Americans will be barred from doing business with them.

There are six Mexicans on the list, including two sets of brothers:
Tijuana-based Ramon and Benjamin Arrellano Felix are said to be leaders of
one of the most violent drug-trafficking groups in Mexico, and U.S.
authorities say Jose de Jesus and Luis Ignacio Amezcua are major traffickers
in methamphetamines.

Rafael Caro Quintero has been jailed by Mexican authorities. Vicente
Carrillo Fuesntes, a leader in the Juarez drug operation, is the brother of
the late drug lord Amado Carrillo Fuentes. Also listed were Chang Chi-Fu of
Burma; Wei Hsueh-Kang, a Chinese national in Southeast Asia; Noel Timothy
Heath and Glenroy Vingrove Matthews of St. Kitts and Nevis; and Abeni and
Oluwole Ogungbuyi of Nigeria.