DRUG SUSPECTS EXTRADITED FROM CURACAO

Federal authorities announced yesterday the extradition of a man they
identified as a cocaine kingpin from Curacao, in the Netherlands Antilles.

Prosecutors in Manhattan said it was the first joint Curacao-United
States investigation of a major drug organization.

An indictment charges that the man, James Yezid Valencia Rugeles, 63,
along with his two sons, ran a drug ring that received tons of cocaine
in Curacao. They then shipped it to St. Maarten, then Puerto Rico, and
ultimately, the United States, according to federal prosecutors and
Drug Enforcement Administration officials.

Four associates of Mr. Valencia Rugeles were extradited with him. His
lawyer, Timothy J. McInnis, said it was too early to comment on the
charges.

Prosecutors also announced yesterday that a former Colombian National
Police colonel was extradited from Colombia and charged with taking
part in an international drug ring that smuggled $10 million worth of
heroin into the United States.

The former colonel, Leonel Mendoza Aguirre, will be arraigned tomorrow
before Judge Robert P. Patterson of Federal District Court in Manhattan.