Pubdate: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 Source: Reuters Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited. COSTA RICA HOLDS SUSPECTED U.S. DRUG GANG LEADERS SAN JOSE, Costa Rica, - Costa Rican police said on Wednesday they acted on a FBI tip to detain three Americans believed to be linked to large-scale drug trafficking and violence since the 1970s. Police identified the three, alleged to have smuggled marijuana, cocaine and heroin into the United States, as Tammy Lynn Knox and Richard and Terry Van Gadner. The trio had been hiding in Costa Rica since mid-1998 in a tourist zone near the Pacific coast. Police spokesman Francisco Ruiz said they were the suspected leaders of a cartel operating in Mexico, Colombia, Canada and the Caribbean island of Aruba, off the Venezuelan coast. Costa Rican law enforcement authorities said they had been alerted to the presence of the group in the small Central American country some two weeks ago by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The three will be held in a maximum security jail while formal extradition papers are prepared, police said. - --- MAP posted-by: Rich O'Grady