N.C. PART OF NATIONAL OPERATION TARGETING HIGH-PURITY,
MEXICO-TO-FRONT-DOOR NETWORK

WASHINGTON - Federal agents arrested more than 138 people accused of
drug trafficking from coast-to-coast and in North Carolina on
Tuesday. U.S. officials said the suspects smuggled heroin from Mexico
and offered phone-up home delivery like a takeout pizza shop.

Eight of the 11 men charged in North Carolina are in custody.

Beginning before dawn, Drug Enforcement Administration agents
conducted arrest raids and searches, seeking up to 150 people, about
half of them illegal immigrants, according to senior drug enforcement
officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity before the official
announcement.

By afternoon, the investigation had produced 138 arrests in 15 U.S.
cities, seized more than 47 pounds of Mexican black tar heroin and
confiscated more than $500,000 in illegal profits, officials said at
a news conference to describe their Operation Black Gold Rush.

The heroin conspiracy in Mecklenburg County began in March, federal
authorities said. Authorities said that on July 14, Manuel Amador
Romero Ortiz, 21, also known as "Wachi," possessed heroin and cocaine
with intent to distribute.

Romero was one of 11 men accused of being involved in the conspiracy;
their ages ranged from 19 to 29. It's unclear where the 11 men in
North Carolina are from.

Federal officials gave this account of how the ring operated:

The ring grew its own poppies and refined them in Mexico and smuggled
an unusually pure variety of black tar heroin across the border,
mostly in Arizona, with couriers on foot or in vehicles. Mexican
black tar heroin, a dark and sticky substance, is usually only about
30-40 percent pure, well below the purity of Colombian heroin. But
among the more than 37 pounds of heroin seized in this case, some was
85 percent pure, officials said.

Among its marketing strategies, the gang preyed on recovering heroin
addicts. Street dealers operated outside methadone clinics where
addicts receive treatment, officials said.

Packaging a quarter to half a gram of heroin in balloons for
convenience, the dealers would offer addicts two free balloons if
they bought two balloons, officials said.

More sophisticated techniques were available for trusted clients.
Agents conducted surveillance that showed the gang distributed
telephone numbers clients could call. At first a courier would be
sent to deliver the heroin to the customer in a car in parking lot,
but later after several sales, clients could call and order delivery
of heroin to the front door of their home, officials said.

The federal investigation began in November after a single heroin
seizure and, in cooperation with state and local police, Tuesday's
raids were designed to take down the ring's entire U.S. distribution
system. No arrests were made in Mexico, the officials said.

Among S.C. cities where the investigation was conducted: Columbia,
Greenville, Charleston and Florence.