POLICE DISARM BOMBS, DISMANTLE DRUG RING

Police disarmed two powerful car bombs in Colombia's second-largest
city Saturday, two days after a bomb tore through an upscale district
in the same city, killing eight people and injuring 138 others.

The cars -- one packed with 45 pounds of explosives and the other with
66 pounds -- were discovered late Saturday near a park and a
frequently used metro station in the southern and northern extremes of
Medell(acu)n, police official Eliana Lopez said.

Colombian police also said they had dismantled a major
heroin-trafficking ring, arresting 19 alleged dealers, including three
men with pending U.S. extradition requests.

Police said the heroin ring widely used ``mules'' -- people who
swallow the drug, often wrapped in plastic, to avoid international
customs inspections. Mules were sent to the United States via
Venezuela, Guatemala or Mexico.

Police confiscated $3.5 million worth of heroin and arrested 41
``mules'' working with the heroin ring.