By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

              TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) -- A police chief says his agents blocked
              a criminal gang's attempt to murder new Honduran President Ricardo
              Maduro, who campaigned on a pledge to crack down on crime.

              He said the gang also planned to kidnap one of the sons of U.S.
              Ambassador Frank Almaguer.

              ``They failed because the Honduran authorities dismantled their plans,'' said
              Juan Carlos Bonilla, regional police chief for San Pedro Sula, the country's
              second-largest city, during a news conference Tuesday that was televised
              nationally.

              Bonilla said that the Los Benedictos gang, whose members are mostly from
              neighboring El Salvador, planned to kill Maduro on Jan. 25 -- two days
              before he took office -- during a visit to San Pedro Sula.

              Bonilla said police got word of the attempt beforehand and were able to
              ``control the situation.''

              After a hunt for the group, police raided a house occupied by the alleged
              Salvadoran ringleader Johnny Villanueva Ortiz, 38, in the town of Las Flores
              in western Honduras. Villanueva's 19-year-old son, also named Johnny, was
              killed.

              Twelve other members of the group are believed to be at large, but Bonilla
              said police found ``irrefutable evidence'' of the assassination plan in the
              house, including grenades, police and military uniforms, automatic weapons
              and thousands of bullets.