Pubdate: Sat, 14 Nov 1998
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Contact:  http://www.chron.com/
Copyright: 1998 Houston Chronicle
Author: Associated Press

COLOMBIAN SAYS U.S. MISHANDLED BUST

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- President Andres Pastrana accused the United States
of mishandling a drug bust on a Colombian air force plane, saying U.S.
officials should have told his government before the plane took off from
Colombia that it carried cocaine.

Customs officials at the international airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,
said Tuesday that they found 1,639 pounds of cocaine and 13 pounds of heroin
hidden on the C-130 aircraft and detained the six-man crew.

"Why, if they knew about this cargo, didn't they tell us first?" Pastrana
said in his first public comments on the incident, which has been an
international embarrassment for his 3-month-old administration.

U.S. drug agents in the past have been loathe to share information with
Colombia, fearing the intelligence would be leaked to drug traffickers.

Pastrana also questioned why U.S. authorities seized the plane at the
Florida airport, rather than trying to gain more information by tracking the
shipment to its final destination.

"We're truly sad that an incident like this once again blemishes the image
of an entire country," said Pastrana, who took office vowing to step up the
fight against drug traffickers.

A spokesman for the U.S. Customs Service in Miami, Mike Sheehan, said the
drugs were discovered in "a routine inspection, like those we have conducted
many times in the past."

In Colombia, the seizure has led to multiple arrests and a command shake-up
in the 12,000-member air force.

Federal prosecutor's agents on Thursday detained six air force members,
including Maj. Gonzalo Noguera, the intelligence chief of the Bogota
military airport from which the plane took off, as well as a lieutenant and
four aviation technicians.

Noguera and two other officers were forced into retirement. Air force
commander Gen. Jose Manuel Sandoval resigned.

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Checked-by: Don Beck