Drug Trafficking United States

A federal grand jury Thursday indicted 25 suspected members of a Los Angeles-based narcotics ring on charges of bribing Federal Express employees to ship 121 tons of Mexican marijuana to the East Coast. The ring was broken up two weeks ago with the arrest of about 100 people, including 22 FedEx employees, in raids in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Georgia. Assistant U.S. Atty. Patrick J.

Federal authorities said Thursday that they have broken up a Los Angeles-based drug trafficking operation that used the Federal Express overnight delivery system to ship tons of marijuana across the United States.

In the days before accused drug lord Charles "Little Nut" Miller surrendered to U.S. authorities last month in his native St. Kitts, he opened fire on a rival, threatened to drop a hand grenade down the pants of a local businessman and was caught by local police with an Uzi submachine gun and half a dozen fake or blank passports, prosecutors charged in Miami federal court Friday. U.S. Magistrate Andrea Simonton then ordered the former federal star witness held without bail on drug charges.

In a visit to the international border Tuesday, a key congressional critic of Mexico's efforts to stem narcotics trafficking all but ruled out trying to scratch Mexico from the Clinton administration's list of nations helping in the war on drugs. "Quite frankly, in this political climate, it might be very difficult," said Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.), head of a House subcommittee that oversees drug policy.

U.S. law enforcement agents Saturday took custody of a man alleged to be the eastern Caribbean's most notorious drug trafficker and wanted on drug charges in this country for the last four years. Charles "Little Nut" Miller was extradited from the Caribbean islands of St. Kitts and Nevis and taken to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., by agents of the U.S. Customs Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright hinted Sunday that Mexico will soon get official U.S. certification for its anti-drug efforts, meeting an annual requirement that continues to be a divisive issue between the two neighbors. "It is inappropriate to make predictions," Albright said when asked about the matter at a joint news conference here with Mexican Foreign Minister Rosario Green. "But . . . the level of cooperation has been very good," she said. "We have had a lot of discussions on this.

Mexico's attorney general said Friday that a sweeping investigation of suspected mass graves containing victims of drug traffickers is now expected to yield far fewer bodies than originally reported, and he blamed U.S. officials for giving erroneous information. "It was an error. The operation would have gone a lot better without these leaks," Atty. Gen. Jorge Madrazo Cuellar told the Los Angeles Times in an interview.

FBI Director Louis J. Freeh joined Mexican officials for an appearance at a suspected narco-trafficking burial ground Friday, stressing the harmony--and legality--of the two countries' investigation. Speaking just yards from where human remains were found this week on a ranch near Juarez, which is just across the border from El Paso, Freeh thanked Mexico for "the invitation" to take part in the search for suspected victims of drug violence.

To residents of this weary city with a drug-related murder rate higher than 1980s Miami, a massive search for bodies on dusty ranches on the outskirts of town is a little like their daily lives: bustling with activity and tinged with knowledge of horrors just below the surface. Mexican and U.S. authorities continued to dig Wednesday in suspected narco-traffic killing fields that may hide up to 100 skeletons--but so far have yielded only six sets of remains.

As FBI agents and Mexican police began digging for possibly scores of bodies on desert ranches Tuesday, aghast Mexicans wondered how a drug cartel became so powerful that it could maintain clandestine burial grounds practically within sight of the U.S. border.