Article: Car batteries

Drugs in batteries, eh? Maybe that would explain why the Energizer bunny keeps going and going...

DEA says it broke up drug smuggling ring

By Mark Sherman, AP

WASHINGTON -- Federal authorities said Tuesday they have broken up a drug smuggling ring that shipped heroin from Guatemala to the United States hidden in car batteries.

Operation Jump Start has resulted in 100 arrests since October 2003, including those of the drug ring's leaders on Tuesday, Drug Enforcement Administrator Karen Tandy said. Authorities arrested 19 people in Colombia, Guatemala and New York.

The heroin was produced in Colombia, then placed in car batteries in Guatemala, Tandy said. From there, the cars were driven through Mexico and across the U.S. border.

"We brought an entire operation that was using this route to move Colombia heroin to a dead end," Tandy said. Colombia is a major supplier of heroin to the United States.

Federal drug agents first became of the smuggling operation after police in Southern and Southwestern states discovered heroin during traffic stops, said a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of ongoing investigations.

At least 20 kilograms, or 44 pounds, of heroin was entering the United States this way each month, the official said. A kilogram of heroin is worth $70,000 to $110,000, the official said.

The DEA said it is seeking to extradite nine people from Guatemala to stand trial on federal drug charges in the United States. Among them is Carlos Enrique Gonzalez-Hoyos, who was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York in November, the DEA said.

A Colombian, Gonzalez-Hoyos is serving a jail sentence in Guatemala, the agency said.