Seven-ton drug bust

Anaheim, California (Reuter) - Authorities have broken up a drug- smuggling ring that used road haulage firms and a tour-bus line as front companies, seizing almost seven tons of cocaine and marijuana and arresting 38 suspects.

The drugs, with an estimated street value of about dollars 1.7bn ( pounds 885m), were shipped from Mexico to California in the false bottoms of lorries, in secret compartments of tour buses and in motor homes, said Captain Tim Simon of the Orange County Sheriff's Department in southern California. The ring spent more than dollars 2.2m to buy companies and assets in an elaborate plot to present the appearance of a legitimate business, officials said.