MEXICAN HEROIN RING BUSTED; 200 ARRESTED

Federal agents made nearly 200 arrests yesterday as they broke up a
multimillion-dollar Mexican heroin ring alleged to have smuggled unusually
pure and cheap black-tar heroin into new markets from one U.S. coast to the
other.

The gang, based in the Nayarit state of Mexico, was distributing 80 pounds
of heroin each month, worth more than $7 million, in 22 U.S. cities, said
Joe Keefe, chief of special operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The purity and price allowed the Mexicans to push into eastern U.S. markets
formerly served by Colombian drug traffickers, Keefe said in an interview.

Operation Tar Pit began in San Diego. DEA and FBI agents had arrested 70
people through Wednesday. They were arresting 170 to 200 more and searching
60 locations yesterday.

The ring used young girls and men in their sixties traveling alone to carry
drugs from Los Angeles to distribution cells as far away as Hawaii and
Georgia, said Keefe's deputy, Rod Benson. Couriers carried 1 to 2 pounds of
heroin wrapped around them in concealed waistbands or hidden in boom-box
radios.

Some packages of heroin were shipped via Federal Express and United Parcel
Service, Benson said. He said the shipping companies were unwittingly
involved and had cooperated in the investigation, which is continuing.

To develop customers quickly, the distribution cells specifically targeted
methadone clinics, Benson said. The gang corrupted clinic employees who
sent heroin addicts to shooting galleries where addicts sampled and bought
the heroin, Benson said. No clinic employees were among yesterday's arrest
targets, Benson said.