Pubdate: Thu, 01 Dec 2005 Source: USA Today (US) Page: 5A Copyright: 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc Contact: http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/index.htm Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/466 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) 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. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake