U.S., COLOMBIA JAIL 63 IN ALLEGED HEROIN RING

Colombian police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration shut
down an international heroin trafficking ring and arrested 63 suspects
in near-simultaneous raids in Colombia and the USA, authorities said
Wednesday. The network smuggled heroin into the USA on speedboats and
also used passengers on commercial airlines carrying suitcases with
hidden compartments, the Colombian attorney general's office said in a
statement. The DEA said the smugglers also concealed heroin in the
lining of clothes, the soles of shoes and the frames of paintings.

Anti-drug agents arrested 42 suspects in the Colombian cities of Cali
and Pereira and 21 in Boston, Miami and New York within 24 hours, a
spokesman for Colombia's Anti-Narcotics Police told the Associated
Press on condition of anonymity, in accordance with police briefing
rules.