AUTHORITIES SAY METH-COKE RING DISMANTLED

BUFFALO - Several Mexican nationals, some of them migrant farm
workers, were among more than two dozen people rounded up in a sweep
targeting a drug operation that flooded Niagara and Orleans counties
with cocaine and methamphetamine, authorities said Monday.

The arrest followed a 16-month, multi-agency investigation that netted
more than seven kilograms of cocaine and $500,000 cash, U.S. Attorney
Michael Battle said.

Twenty-five people, including the driver of a drug-laden car stopped
over the weekend, were in custody on federal and state charges Monday
and six others were being sought, authorities said.

Mark Peterson, resident agent-in-charge of the Drug Enforcement
Administration, said arrests were made at all levels of the operation,
from suppliers and couriers to midlevel dealers and customers.

Drugs were driven from Atlanta and other southern cities to western
New York in hidden compartments in cars. A car driven by Israel
Valdez-Urieta of Georgetown, Texas, was intercepted at the New York
border Saturday by agents who had tracked it through wiretaps. The car
allegedly contained three kilograms of cocaine with a street value of
$200,000.

Among suspected customers of the operation was a corrections officer
at the Albion Correctional Facility. Authorities believe Robert
Greiner, 36, of Lockport, purchased cocaine in amounts larger than
would be expected for personal use, but could not say whether he may
have distributed the drugs at the prison. State Corrections Department
officials were notified of Greiner' s arrest.

Thomas Beilein, sheriff in largely rural Niagara County, said several
of the Mexican nationals at the upper level of the operation "blended
into the community under the guise of migrant workers."

Some of those involved had been employed on farms, agents
said.

Depending on their involvement in the operation, the defendants would
face from 10 years to life in prison if convicted, and fines of up to
$4 million.