FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SAYS IT SMASHED MAJOR DRUG RING WITH MEXICO'S HELP

Working closely with Mexican authorities, federal officials have
broken up a smuggling operation that shipped tens of millions of
dollars worth of cocaine and marijuana from Colombia and Mexico into
the United States, the government said today.

Law enforcement officials in 16 American cities arrested 83 people
suspected of taking part in the network, which had links to the Ciudad
Juarez cartel in Mexico. That cartel was founded by the late drug
kingpin Amado Carrillo-Fuentes and taken over by his brother, Vicente,
after his death in 1997.

Michael Chertoff, the assistant attorney general in charge of the
Justice Department's criminal division, said the law enforcement
operation had dismantled a smuggling network based in Nuevo Laredo,
Mexico, called the Marquis Organization, which included the remnants
of the Juarez group.

Early today, law enforcement officials conducted raids in major cities
including New York, Baltimore, Dallas, Houston, Memphis and
Philadelphia, officials at the Drug Enforcement Administration said.
The F.B.I. and the United States Customs Service also
participated.

The arrests were the result of an 18-month investigation that has
netted 268 suspects, about 19,000 pounds of cocaine, 27,738 pounds of
marijuana, 50 pounds of methamphetamine and about $12.5 million in
cash.

American officials also identified 14 suspects they have asked the
Mexican authorities to apprehend.

Officials said drugs from Colombia were transported to Nuevo Laredo,
on the United States border, in trucks or in planes. The drugs were
then smuggled into the United States, on trucks or in cars passing
through a commercial border in Laredo, Tex., and by people coming
across the border. The drugs were then stored in local warehouses
before being distributed to American cities.

Earlier this month, Mexican police arrested Alcides Ramon Magana, a
suspected leader of the organization.

Drug agency officials said the arrests resulted from unprecedented
cooperation between Mexican officials and American federal, state and
local law enforcement authorities. For years, American law enforcement
officers have complained that Mexican counterparts have not acted on
their information and have even shielded traffickers for money.

Mike Furgason, special agent in charge of the special operations
division of the drug agency, said the operation would probably put a
"huge dent" in drug sales in Cleveland; Charlotte, N.C.; San Antonio
and Austin, Tex.