SUCCESS CLAIM IN DRUGS WAR

Philadelphia (AP) - Two drug operations that smuggled millions of dollars
worth of heroin from South America to New York and Philadelphia have been
dismantled "from beginning to end" with the arrests of 69 people, US and
Colombian officials said.

The investigation into the operations, which lasted more than a year,
marked the first time US officials identified a drug organisation working
in Colombia of which authorities there were not aware, the US attorney's
office said.

"Our ability to do this - to take out an entire drug organisation from the
Colombia source through the New York City distributors to the streets of
Philadelphia - is an astounding achievement that will not be unnoticed by
international drug cartels," said Michael Stiles, US attorney for the
eastern district of Pennsylvania.

"This is not just taking a dealer off the street who will be replaced the
next day," he said. "This is the dismantling of an entire operation from
beginning to end."

Colombian authorities seized weapons, cars, communications equipment and
documents containing, "information that is going to generate new
investigations in Colombia," General Luis Rodriguez, the head of Colombia's
judicial police, said through an interpreter.

Thirty-one people were arrested in Colombia, 11 in New York and 27 in
Pennsylvania in investigations dubbed "Operation White Horse" and
"Operation Guaranteed Delivery". Three people in Pennsylvania and one in
New York remain at large.

Among those arrested in Philadelphia was John Barniy Marulanda-Pena, whom
authorities identified as the ringleader of the organisation. Known on the
street as "John the Colombian", he was charged with running a ring that
sold more than $US2 million ($NZ4.51 million) worth of heroin in North
Philadelphia over the past 18 months.