US arrests 148 in drug bust

A DEA spokesman described the arrests as the quot;largest pseudoephedrine bust in recent historyquot;.

The suspects in Los Angeles, Denver, Orlando, Houston and other cities were indicted on various counts for handling pseudoephedrine, a precursor chemical used to manufacture the stimulant methamphetamine.

Among those arrested was Hassan Zaghmot, a Syrian-born US immigrant. Owner and operator of Denver Wholesale, he also ran two other businesses, Aamp;B Wholesale and Florida Wholesale, all involved in a pseudoephedrine shipment scheme, Federal officials said.

They said the pseudoephedrine was shipped to illegal laboratories in the United States but controlled by Mexican drug lords who turned it into methamphetamine.

Zaghmot headed a 10-member group of recent immigrants from the Middle East called the quot;Commissionquot;, Federal agents said. They imported the chemicals from India and China and delivered them to the Mexican-run labs in California. From there they were shipped to cities across the United States, yielding enormous profits.

Federal officials said the money was sent to parties in Israel, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, but gave no further details. Authorities said they did not believe the drug traffickers were linked to any terrorist activities.