POLICE CLAIMING VICTORY OVER SMUGGLING NETWORK

Colombian police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said
Wednesday that they had arrested 49 people and dismantled a major
international cocaine and heroin smuggling network.

The Medell(acu)n-based organization shipped 13.5 tons of cocaine and
heroin to the United States, authorities said, calling the group an
example of a ``new generation'' of low-profile traffickers who have
replaced Colombia's former drug cartels.

Colombia's deputy chief prosecutor, Jaime Cordoba, saluted the DEA
for providing critical intelligence and coordinating the two-year
investigation. He called the arrests, dubbed Operation New
Generation, ``one of the most skillful blows in Colombia's recent
history in the fight against drug trafficking.'