VENEZUELA STEPS UP DRUG RAIDS

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Security forces raided houses, businesses and
farms in a remote Venezuelan jungle Monday after intercepting a record five
tons of cocaine and arresting at least 14 people in an international drug
bust, authorities said.

The National Guard said it could recover more cocaine on a jungle island in
the middle of the Orinoco River of eastern Delta Amacuro state. It also
said more arrests are possible as efforts to disband the international drug
ring Los Mellizos continue.

"At this very moment we are raiding a business in Delta Amacuro. We could
have more results tomorrow or the day after. We are only in the middle of
the operation," Gen. Antonio Alizo, head of the National Guard's anti-drug
unit, told The Associated Press.

The drug bust Friday was the largest in Venezuela's history in terms of
cocaine seized. Press reports said the five tons of cocaine are worth $400
million, but Alizo said the value was probably much higher.

"That's peanuts. Authorities put a value on the stash but the street worth
is generally much higher," he said.

The raid was a result of an eight-month investigation, known as "Orinoco
2000," that used telephone bugging equipment, more than 200 anti-drug
officers, three planes, three helicopters and eight boats. Colombia,
France, Britain, Italy, Greece, Panama and the United States helped out.

Venezuela is a key trafficking route for Colombian cocaine en route to the
United States and Europe. The U.S. Embassy called the raid "an example of
excellent cooperation over a period of several months," between the United
States and Venezuela.

"The organization targeted was a major cocaine trafficking organization
based in South America with operations in the Caribbean and Europe. They
were responsible for major shipments of cocaine both to the United States
and Europe," the embassy said in a statement.

Two people in Italy and one person in France were among those detained in
the international operation, carried out with financial assistance from the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Alizo said prosecutors released six
of the 14 people initially arrested Friday after determining they were not
involved in a crime.

A search continues for five drug traffickers who escaped into the jungle
and for the cargo ship that was intended to transport the cocaine to Italy.
The National Guard sent a reinforcement unit to the island on Monday morning.

"The terrain is very difficult. There are high tides and low tides and
there is swamp water everywhere," Alizo said, adding that international
authorities have the search for the cargo ship "under control because there
are satellites monitoring it."

The National Guard is also searching for Los Mellizos ringleaders in
Venezuela's capital, Caracas, in the western city of Maracaibo and in
eastern city of Puerto Ordaz, Alizo said.