TWO ALLEGED DRUG DEALERS WIN IN COURTS

MEXICO CITY - Efforts to prosecute the Amezcua Contreras brothers,
whom American authorities say rank among the world's largest producers
of illegal methamphetamines, appear to be collapsing.

Jesus Amezcua, who is 33 and has been imprisoned here for nearly a
year as the United States attempts to extradite him on trafficking
charges, won a victory early yesterday when Olga Sanchez Contreras, a
federal judge, declared the proceedings unconstitutional.

Mexico's Constitution prohibits the extradition of Mexican
citizens.

In a separate case, Jesus Amezcua's younger brother, Adan, who is 29,
was freed from a federal prison yesterday after an appellate judge
threw out trafficking and other charges against him.

Adan Amezcua had been imprisoned since 1997.