*EPF204 06/01/2004
Text: White House Targets 10 International Drug Traffickers
(U.S. agencies ordered to bar designated kingpins from U.S. economy) (400)

President Bush named 10 international drug traffickers as "kingpins" June 1, putting in train a process that aims to bar them, their businesses, and associates from the U.S. economy.

A White House press statement designated drug kingpins in Mexico, Jamaica, Peru, India and Afghanistan. This announcement, the fifth of its kind since the law requiring the designation took effect in 2000, brings to 48 the total of narcotics trafficers targeted by the Foreign Narcot6ics Kingpin Designation Act.

The statement noted that the kingpin law targets individuals involved in illicit trafficking and does not target their home countries.

Following is the text of the White House statement:

(begin text)

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
June 1, 2004

STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY

Presidential Designation of Foreign Narcotics Kingpins

Today the President designated the fifth annual set of determinations of drug traffickers who will be subject to the sanctions provided in the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act ("Kingpin Act"). This action brings the total number of individuals and entities designated under the Kingpin Act to 48, since the first designations were made in 2000. This is the second year the President has identified foreign entities as kingpins.

This action underscores the President's determination to do everything possible to pursue drug traffickers, undermine their operations, and end the suffering that trade in illicit drugs inflicts on Americans and other people around the world, as well as preventing drug traffickers from supporting terrorists.

The Kingpin Act, which became law in December 1999, targets significant foreign narcotics traffickers, their organizations and operatives worldwide, denying them access to the U.S. financial system and all trade and transactions involving U.S. companies and individuals. The Kingpin Act does not target the countries in which these foreign individuals and entities are operating or the governments of such countries.

The additional foreign individuals and entities that the President has designated as appropriate for sanctions under the Kingpin Act are:

Arellano Felix Organization (Mexico)

Eduardo Ramon Arellano Felix (Mexico)

Francisco Javier Arellano Felix (Mexico)

Carrillo Fuentes Organization (Mexico)

Armando Valencia Cornelio (Mexico)

Norris Nembhard (Jamaica)

Leebert Ramcharan (Jamaica)

Fernando Melciades Zevallos Gonzales (Peru)

Iqbal Mirchi (India)

Haji Bashir Noorzai (Afghanistan)

The initial list of drug kingpins was released in June 2000, and the names just released are additions to that list.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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