FEDS HIT MAJOR RING SUPPLYING METH LABS

'Commission' Said To Have S.d. Link

WASHINGTON -- Federal authorities have dismantled a nationwide ring that
used operatives in San Diego to supply pseudoephedrine to methamphetamine
laboratories in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities, Attorney General Janet
Reno said yesterday.

Arrested in a series of raids across the country were 140 people who
belonged to the distribution ring, officials said.

The organization's leaders, who called themselves "The Commission," shipped
their profits to the Middle East, officials of the Drug Enforcement
Administration said.

DEA sources said they are checking to see whether any of the millions of
dollars earned in the illicit operation was channeled to terrorist groups.

Officials said the ring worked with licensed pseudoephedrine distributors
to illegally divert the chemicals to clandestine, California-based labs run
by organizations in Mexico, which manufactured tons of methamphetamine.

Pseudoephedrine tablets are imported for legal use in over-the-counter cold
remedies.

During the yearlong investigation, the DEA determined that wholesalers
nationwide shipped tons of pseudoephedrine tablets to "black market"
distributors in California, authorities said.

Of the country's 6,923 illicit methamphetamine labs seized last year --
including the most sophisticated operations -- 2,283 operated in
California. But the law enforcement crackdown, dubbed Operation Mountain
Express, "should have a significant impact on methamphetamine trafficking
in the U.S. by limiting the availability of pseudoephedrine and deterring
other registrants who might be considering the illicit diversion of
chemicals and pharmaceuticals," Reno said.

The top leaders of the operation, including Hassan Zaghmot of Denver, were
arrested.

"This was the first time that U.S. law enforcement has been able to connect
a major group of pseudoephedrine distributors directly to U.S.-based,
Mexican-controlled methamphetamine laboratory operators," said Joe Keefe,
chief of the DEA's special operations division.

Law enforcement officers seized $8 million in cash and 10 metric tons of
pseudoephedrine -- enough to produce 18,000 pounds of methamphetamine.

DEA officials said the "Commission" leadership dispatched profits to
Israel, Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia.