DRUG BUSTS NET 268 ARRESTS ACROSS USA

A former Mexican governor, a beer distributor and a school maintenance
worker were among 268 people arrested in connection with a drug ring that
officials say shipped 8 tons of cocaine and 27,000 pounds of marijuana to
at least 17 U.S. cities. Federal agents and local police fanned out across
the USA on Wednesday to arrest 83 people suspected of transporting the
drugs over the Mexican border, distributing them to street dealers and
laundering the profits. Federal agents previously had arrested 185 people
in connection with the drug ring, including Mario Villanueva, a former
governor of the Mexican state Quintana Roo. Mexican police often escorted
drug shipments across the border to Laredo, Texas, according to the federal
Drug Enforcement Administration.

From the border, other distributors, including an employee of the beer
importer, shuttled the drugs to the Texas cities of Austin, Dallas, and
Houston, agents said. The drugs also made their way to Tulsa, Memphis, St.
Louis, Elizabeth, N.J., New York City, Philadelphia, Akron and Canton,
Ohio, and Charlotte, N.C.

Distributors also supplied a school maintenance worker in Canton who
allegedly sold crack cocaine at local community centers, agents said.