FBI ARRESTS 12, SEIZES 10 TONS OF POT

Crime: The Raids At 22 Southland Sites Climax An 18-Month Probe. 'This Is
Big,' Agent Says.

One of the largest marijuana smuggling rings in the United States has been
broken up with the seizure of more than 10 tons of the drug, including more
than three tons at a single residence in Downey, federal authorities said
Tuesday.

The announcement came only hours after nearly 250 law enforcement officers,
including FBI SWAT teams from as far away as Washington, D.C., raided 22
locations in Los Angeles, Lynwood and Downey.

The raids, authorities said, followed an 18-month investigation into a drug
operation that distributed up to 40 tons of marijuana each year to New
York, Indiana, Florida and other locations nationwide. Arrested in the
sweeps Tuesday were a dozen members of a Los Angeles-based ring that
authorities said has direct connections to the cartel of one of Mexico's
alleged drug kingpins, Ismael Zambada. "This is big," said Richard Garcia,
special agent in charge of the FBI's Criminal Division in Los Angeles.

"In terms of the command and distribution of marijuana in the United
States, this is one of the top 10 groups during the past decade," he said.

A federal grand jury indictment handed down last week alleges that the
ring, operating since at least July 2000, purchased huge quantities of
marijuana from various suppliers in Mexico, including Zambada, for
distribution throughout the United States.

U.S. and Mexican authorities believe that the 53-year-old drug lord,
nicknamed "El Mayo," is the man rival drug kingpin Ramon Arellano Felix was
attempting to kill when Arellano was shot by police last month in Mazatlan.

The U.S. operation dismantled Tuesday, authorities alleged, also may be
linked to three drug killings in this country, although no charges have
been filed in those cases.

The alleged ringleader of the drug distribution network is Jose Manuel
Barraza Jr.

The 27-year-old Lynwood man, according to the grand jury indictment, stored
the Mexican shipments of marijuana in "stash houses" throughout Los Angeles
before distributing the drug across the country through the mail or in
1,000-pound tractor-trailer shipments.

Labeling the huge truck shipments as paper products or electronics and
disguising the marijuana smell with vinegar, baking soda and other
chemicals, the group moved vast quantities of marijuana month after month,
said the FBI's Garcia.

Federal and local authorities said Tuesday that Barraza's operation was
uncovered after a shipping company in Indianapolis reported receiving a
"suspicious package" from Los Angeles.

That package, received in July 2000, contained 500 pounds of marijuana,
Garcia said.

The investigation was nicknamed "Operation Jaguar" after its purported
ringleader was seen driving one of the luxury vehicles, Garcia said.

As the investigation unfolded, authorities alleged, Barraza, his parents, a
younger brother and others moved large shipments of marijuana with no
apparent fear of detection.

According to the indictment, Barraza last August allegedly spoke by phone
with Tigran Madzharyan, owner of a Los Angeles-based shipping company, to
discuss shipping an unspecified quantity of marijuana to New York.

After the shipment arrived on Aug. 8, the indictment claims, Barraza told
his brother, Richard Barraza, to store the marijuana in a vehicle.

Over the next several weeks, the indictment said, the drug ring shipped
several more tons of marijuana to locations including New York, and
arranged for payments from the drug proceeds to be delivered to Mexico.

In all, authorities said Tuesday, more than 10 tons of marijuana, 41
kilograms of cocaine and more than $1 million in drug proceeds have been
seized in recent weeks.

More than three tons of marijuana were seized Tuesday at a two-story pink
house about a block from an elementary school in Downey.

Neighbors said they had occasionally seen a black SUV and a white truck
pull up to the house in the middle of the night.

They said that several men in their 20s and 30s frequented the house.

"I had a funny idea about that house," one neighbor said Tuesday. "There
was never any women there."

Another neighbor said, "They drove the best cars."

More than half a dozen FBI SWAT teams took part in the raids because of
information that the "stash houses" holding the marijuana shipments were
guarded by armed employees of the drug operation.

Though that did not prove to be true, Garcia said, authorities did
confiscate a small arsenal of weapons, including AK-47s, during the raids.

Besides Barraza, those arrested Tuesday included his parents, Manuel, 61,
and Maria, 57, of Lynwood; Madzharyan, 23, of North Hollywood; Javier
Bobadilla-Tovar, 42, of South Gate; Luis Eduardo Valdez-Venegas, 26, of
Lynwood; Edna Cardenas, 23, of Indianapolis; Eduardo Ramirez-Gonzalez, 37,
and Carmen Machada, 23, both of Nashville; Guadalupe Sosa-Carranza, 35, of
Palmdale; Gabriel Rios, 30, of Fontana, and Maria Rodriguez, 32, of Lynwood.

Being sought and considered fugitives, the FBI said, are Barraza's brother,
Richard, 20, of Lynwood; Aminta Basurto, 30, of Los Angeles; and Roberto
Davila, 35, of El Paso.

Sergio Osuna Guzman, 36, of San Gabriel and Franklin Cardenas, 23, of
Indianapolis are in state custody.

All the defendants have been charged with conspiracy to import and
distribute marijuana, charges that carry prison terms of 10 years to life.

Times research librarian Robin Mayper contributed to this report.