HEROIN RING SHUT DOWN IN COLOMBIA

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Colombian authorities, working with the U.S.
drug agents, said they shut down a heroin trafficking ring Tuesday
that was sending hundreds of pounds of the drug to the United States
sewn into the lining of clothing.

Colombian authorities arrested 23 people after raids on 20 businesses
and homes early Tuesday morning. Twenty-four people have been
arrested in the United States during the yearlong investigation,
according to Leo Arrequin, director of the Colombia office of the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

Arrequin said the smugglers, based in Colombia, and in Newark, N.J.;
New York City; Houston and McAllen, Texas; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and
Chicago, Ill., were taking heroin across the U.S.-Mexican border in
shipments of clothing.