FOUR DRUG NETWORKS LINKED TO ARELLANO FELIX GANG RAIDED IN U.S.

LOS ANGELES- Four networks that distributed illegal drugs across the nation
for the Tijuana, Mexico-based Arellano Felix cartel were dismantled
Thursday with raids in California and four other states, law enforcement
authorities said.

Thirty-two people were arrested and arrest warrants were issued for 38
others in the latest round of a continuing investigation called Operation
Vice Grip, local, federal and state officials announced at a press conference.

Search and arrest warrants were served at 30 locations in Southern
California. Others were served in New York, Arizona, Minnesota and Connecticut.

Some 400 law enforcement officers and agents were involved in the raids
targeting major Mexican drug transporters in the Los Angeles area. The drug
cartel shipped narcotics from Los Angeles via commercial airlines and
trucks for distribution in Boston, Cincinnati, Minneapolis, New York, and
Newark, N.J., police said.

The Arellano Felix organization is Mexico's largest drug gang. Before
Thursday's raids, authorities had already seized $13.9 million in
narcotics, including 13.5 tons of cocaine, 46 pounds of methamphetamine,
and 4,768 pounds of marijuana, and made 234 arrests during the two-year
nationwide investigations.

But drug shipments have not halted.

"We still see major loads of cocaine coming across the border," said
Michele Leonhard, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration special agent in
Los Angeles.

Mexico's attorney general said this week that the Arellano Feliz
organization remains strong despite the death of top enforcer Ramon
Arellano Felix, who was shot by police in February, and the capture a month
later of his brother, Benjamin, who oversaw daily operations.

The gang is believed to have shipped tons of cocaine and marijuana through
the border city of Tijuana and on to distributors in California and the
Midwest over the past two decades. It also is believed to have been behind
more than 300 murders.

Los Angeles Police Chief Martin Pomeroy described the group as "a poison
that is affecting our children."

The new attack on the organization included nearly 10 provisional arrest
warrants served in Mexico for alleged drug lieutenants Ismael
Higuera-Guerro and Mario Alberto Russel-Gamez, both of whom were arrested
in May 2000.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley is seeking extradition of
the men and is still looking for others, including Bernardo DelaCerra,
known as "Don Ben," who is a fugitive.

"This narcotics trafficking is nothing more than organized crime," said Cooley.

He said that Thursday's raids also included arrests of Juan Ramon Camacho
and Rosario Uriarte, alleged to be leaders of Los Angeles cells in the
trafficking network. Arrests were made in Los Angeles, Compton, Inglewood,
Riverside, San Diego and South Gate said Los Angeles police Detective
Gerard Kennelly.

The investigation of the Arellano Felix organization has involved the
dismantling of drug cells from 26 cities in 18 states since Operation Vice
Grip began, police said.