Drug ring member allegedly smuggled heroin

MIAMI, July 22 (UPI) -- A Colombian drug ring's senior member, extradited to the United States, was charged in Miami with smuggling heroin, court records indicated.

Wison Armnando Quintero Mendez was charged in federal court for smuggling kilos of the drug into South Florida, the Miami Herald reported Wednesday.

Mendez was extradited Tuesday from Bogota to face a 2008 conspiracy indictment, the Herald said.

He is the cousin of accused ringleader Jose Enrique Gutierrez Quintero, who was extradited in June together with another defendant, Maria Remy Maria Ducuara De Saiz, for allegedly importing cocaine into Broward and Miami-Dade counties during 2006 through 2007.

In the fall of 2007, 14 members of Gutierrez's crime organization were arrested in Colombia on heroin trafficking, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.