Pubdate: Sat, 31 Mar 2001
Source: Register-Guard, The (OR)
Copyright: 2001 The Register-Guard
Contact:  http://www.registerguard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/362
Author: Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)

RUSSIA SEEKS SECOND AMERICAN

MOSCOW - Investigators working on the case of a 24-year-old American
Fulbright scholar charged with using and selling marijuana are looking
for another American in the case, security officials said Friday.

John Tobin, a native of Ridgefield, Conn., was arrested last month on
charges of drug possession, but was later accused of dealing drugs,
then of dealing drugs as part of a criminal gang, a crime that carries
a maximum sentence of 15 years.

In a case that comes amid a spy war between Russia and the United
States, the Federal Security Service said Tobin had U.S. intelligence
training. No espionage charges have been filed.

The security service, known in Russia as the FSB, is planning to ask
Interpol for help in finding and arresting another American suspect in
the case, said FSB investigator Andrei Makarov. He said only that the
man also visited Voronezh, the central Russian city where Tobin was
detained at a nightclub. The second suspect is believed to be now in
the United States or some other country outside Russia.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager