Honduran police uncover drug ring

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Police have broken up a drug-smuggling, kidnapping and bank robbery ring that was the Central American arm of powerful drug cartels based in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, authorities said Saturday.

Thirty anti-narcotics officers and agents raided one of the gang's safe-houses in the city of Lempira, near the border with El Salvador, before dawn Saturday. One anti-narcotics officer was killed and another was wounded in the ensuing gun battle.

Authorities returning fire killed suspected gang member Johnny Villanueva, a 19-year-old Salvadoran national. Also wounded during the raid was his father, 38-year-old Jose Villanueva. Authorities suspect that the elder Villanueva was the leader of the gang.