Colombian Drug Shipments To City Halted by Task Force

Federal and local law enforcement officials broke up a sophisticated heroin cartel yesterday that transported narcotics into New York disguised as red kidney beans and fabricated beach bags, the Drug Enforcement Administration said.

The task force arrested 18 people involved in the racket, which the DEA called "one of the largest Colombian heroin trafficking organizations" in America.

More than 250 kilograms of heroin with a street value of about $24 million was confiscated in the year-long investigation, codenamed "Operation Eliminacion," the DEA said.

The cartel disguised the heroin as kidney beans that were placed in market-brand plastic bags, and as beads that were manufactured into beach bags. The organization also shipped heroin inside car parts such as trailer hitches and drive shafts, the DEA said.

Throughout the investigation, law enforcement officials found that the cartel used bases in Panama and Guatemala to transport the drugs to America, the DEA said. The task force teamed up with Colombian national police to arrest 11 suspects in New York and seven in Colombia, the DEA said.

Two major figures in the cartel were apprehended, the DEA said. The alleged leader of the organization, Hector Vidal Yepes-Casa, was arrested in the Bronx, and a supplier and former investigator in the Colombian national prosecutor's office, Mira Atehortua, was captured in Colombia, the DEA said.

If convicted, each suspect faces a minimum 25-year sentence and a $1 million fine.