FEDERAL AGENTS CONDUCT RAID ON DRUG-TRAFFICKING NETWORK

Crime: more than 70 are arrested as officials try to break up one of the
top 20 narcotic rings in the U.S.

Washington-Federal agents arrested scores of people and seized drugs and
money in 14 cities Tuesday in an effort to break up what the FBI called one
of the top 20 drug distribution networks in the country.

Agents had warrants to arrest 100 people and search more than 70 sites in
an operation against a group alleged to import tons of cocaine and
marijuana across the Southwest border and distribute it in the East and
Midwest.

The target of the multiagency Operation Southwest Express was the drug
trafficking organization of Omar Rocha Soto, who was arrested Monday night
in San Diego with his wife, Adriana Espinaza.

Also arrested Tuesday were three brothers who agents said coordinated
transportation for the group from their El Paso, Texas, base. Daniel, Raul
and Angel Sotello-Lopez were arrested in El Paso.

They and others arrested were charged with drug trafficking, money
laundering and conspiracy. The trafficking charges alone can carry 20-year
prison terms.

During the yearlong investigation, agents seized 4,158 pounds of marijuana,
2,727 kilograms of cocaine and more than $1.15 million in cash.

Seized Tuesday were 14 more kilograms of cocaine, two Ferrari autos, a Land
Rover and seven weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle, said Assistant
FBI Director Thomas Pickard. He said more than 70 arrests had been made by
Tuesday afternoon, and 28 more were expected.

"This investigation has resulted in a major disruption of the flow of drugs
from the Southwest border throughout the United States," said FBI Director
Louis Freeh.

Pickard said the raids disrupted "a major drug trafficking organization
from its distribution system to its retail sales." He ranked the group
among "the top 20" drug trafficking networks in the country.

The group brought drugs into San Diego and El Paso and shipped them to
friends and associates in Chicago in covert compartments of cars and
tractor trailers and by piggyback trains that haul trailers, Pickard said.
From Chicago, the drugs were sent on to Cleveland, New York and Boston and
then to Nashville, Tenn., and Atlanta. He said the drugs originated in
Mexico, South America and South east Asia.

"This organization that was disrupted today embraced the American
capitalist idea and would sell any type of drug for a profit," Pickard
said. "It did not discriminate in its dealings with any other drug
organizations. For example, they sold to Dominicans, blacks, Middle
Easterners and any other organized-crime group throughout the United States."

The investigation was conducted by the FBI, the Drug Enforcement
Administration, the Justice Department, Customs Service, Internal Revenue
Service and Immigration and Naturalization Service.