By Jerry Seper
                      THE WASHINGTON TIMES

                           More than 50 suspects were arrested yesterday in an
                      international narcotics investigation targeting a suspected
                      Mexican drug operation that sent tons of cocaine and
                      marijuana annually into the United States.
                           U.S. authorities, led by the Drug Enforcement Administration,
                      the FBI and the U.S. Customs Service, took the suspects into
                      custody following raids in New York, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee,
                      Mississippi and Texas. Another 50 suspects are still being sought.
                           The State Department was offering a $2 million reward for the
                      suspected kingpin, Osiel Cardenas-Guillen, and two of his
                      top lieutenants, Adan Medrano and Juan Manual Garza-Rendon.
                      Cardenas-Guillen has openly threatened U.S. drug agents and is
                      known for violent purges of his own organization.
                           The arrests are part of an undercover investigation known
                      as "Operation Impunity II," which began in October 1999. It
                      is the third major probe by the DEA since 1997 of the
                      Cardenas-Guillen ring, which operates out of Reynosa and
                      Matamoros, Mexico.
                           DEA officials said the Cardenas-Guillen operation was
                      put together from the remnants of two other drug rings
                      formerly led by Amado Carrillo Fuentes and Juan Garcia
                      Abrego.
                           Carrillo Fuentes, known as the "Lord of the Skies," was
                      considered Mexico's No. 1 drug smuggler. He died in
                      Mexico City in 1997 after plastic surgery in a failed attempt
                      to alter his appearance. Garcia Abrego was extradited to the
                      United States, tried and convicted.
                           Mexican authorities, who assisted in the undercover
                      probe, were seeking suspects in that country on eight
                      warrants issued by U.S. courts. Another warrant was sent to
                      the Dominican Republic for police there to arrest a
                      Dominican national.
                           The Mexican attorney general's office announced the
                      arrest of three Colombians, Ruben Dario Nieto Benjumea,
                      Gustavo Adolfo Londono Zapata and Elkin F. Cano Villa.
                      Mexican authorities also seized several properties belonging
                      to Cardenas-Guillen.
                           Cardenas-Guillen was indicted, along with seven
                      associates, in the last several weeks in Brownsville, Texas, on
                      charges of conspiracy to distribute drugs and for assaulting
                      federal officers. The indictments were unsealed yesterday.
                           The assault charges, the DEA said, stem from a Nov. 9,
                      1999, incident when a DEA agent and an FBI agent were
                      surrounded at midday on the street in Matamoros by more
                      than a dozen men armed with AK-47 and AR-15 assault
                      weapons and gold-plated .45-caliber pistols.
                           The DEA said Cardenas-Guillen stuck his head and a
                      submachine gun into the agents' car and threatened to kill
                      them. The agents, however, convinced him that their deaths
                      would not be in his best interest.
                           "We are sending a clear and strong message that no one
                      can threaten or harm a federal agent with impunity," said
                      DEA Administrator Donnie R. Marshall. "Make no mistake,
                      if you harm a special agent, we will spare no effort to ensure
                      that you are brought to justice."
                           Before yesterday's raids, Operation Impunity II had
                      netted 82 arrests, $10.8 million in cash, 9,000 pounds of
                      marijuana and 5,266 kilograms of cocaine. Overall, the three
                      operations produced 248 arrests and seized $36 million,
                      25,000 pounds of marijuana and 21,000 kilograms of
                      cocaine.
                           "The rules of evidence force us to periodically take down
                      parts of this operation, but the three operations show we're
                      not stopping. We keep hitting them," said Joseph Keefe, who
                      heads the DEA's special operations division. "We've affected
                      them, and forced them into new alliances to keep
                      functioning."
                           Attorney General Janet Reno said the success of
                      Operation Impunity II was "largely the result of the
                      outstanding coordination between federal, state and local law
                      enforcement officials and prosecutors across the country."
                           The DEA said the Cardenas-Guillen gang smuggled
                      cocaine from Colombia into this country hidden under
                      tractor-trailer loads of carrots, cilantro and lettuce.
                           They said nearly 60 percent of each shipment was moved
                      to New York and turned over to Colombian and Dominican
                      distribution cells.
                           The other 40 percent was kept by the Mexican-led gang
                      as payment for the smuggling operation and was shipped to
                      their cells in Chicago, Houston, Memphis, Tenn., and
                      Columbus, Ohio, for distribution by their own people.