DRUG QUEEN `LA SENORA' EXTRADITED TO U.S.

A Colombian woman accused of running a female-dominated drug-trafficking
ring that distributed thousands of kilograms of cocaine in the United
States since 1986 has been extradited from Brazil to face federal charges
in New York and Los Angeles of narcoti cs trafficking and money
laundering.

Known among her associates as "La Senora," Mery Valencia, 44, operated a
sophisticated crime organization from her home base in Cali, Colombia.
Nearly every one of her top lieutenants was a woman, and some of those
women brought their daughters into the r ing, according to an indictment
unsealed in New York.

In Southern California, authorities said, Valencia maintained a network of
stash houses where large drug shipments were stored after being smuggled
across the border.

Valencia, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was flown to New York on Tuesday
night from Rio de Janeiro, where she had been under arrest since 1997.

FBI agents from Los Angeles were present when Valencia was seized at the
Rio airport.

She was carrying false identification papers and had undergone plastic
surgery to disguise her appearance.