SMUGGLING? YES; COLLUSION? NO

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R001200410001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 8, 2001
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 20, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

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Despite Its frill commitment to the
fight against the narcotics trade, the
CIA runs into continual accusations of
engaging in the traffic itself.
The accusations center around Air
America, an airline operating in Viet-
nam and Laos and into the "Golden
Triange where 70 per cent of the
world's illicit opium is produced.
It is an open secret that Air America
was covertly established by the U.S.
government to provide safe and ade-
quate air services in a part of the world
where comr>;rercial.. carriers provided nei-
ther.
The capital to start it was funneled
through the CIA, which still serves as a
funding mechanism for operating costs,
but it is a semi-autonomous organization
whose employes are. all civilians under
contract to the airline and not to the
CIA or the U.S. government.
tined for use only as currency In Meo
village barter.
Far more serious is the problem of
ranking Laotian diplomats and military
notables who smuggle large quantities of
opium and heroin out of Laos and into
the world market.
The diplomats are immune to search
when they travel, and an Air America
employe - a resident alien in Laos -
would be on a sticky wicket if he tried
to search the luggage of a senior La.o-
tian official in Laos itself.
The responsibility, moreover, Is not
that of the airline but of the customs
service in the country of arrival. Here
again, diplomatic luggage is immune to
search, as are certain official aircraft
used by the military, and a country that
insists on an illegal search had better
find what it is looking for.
TIIF JULY -HARPlR'S magazine fea-
tures an extract from the forthcoming
book "The Politics of heroin in South-
east Asia
" by Yale Ph
student Al
D
A I R AMERICA, RUNS scheduled
flights throughout 'Vietnam and Laos,
and it is used by all manner of passen-
gers with official travel orders.
In Laos, It is also used or a charter
basis to support' the irregular war effort
against the North Vietnamese, trans-
porting supplies; equipment and food as
well as advisers and the Ivleo tribesmen
and their families from hilltop airstrip
to hilltop airstrip.
Throughout the "Golden Triangle" -
which is beyond all formal adminis-
tration, no matter what the lines on the
map say - no currency has much value,..
and raw opium serves as the basis of
what passes for an economy.
The CIA does not and never has paid
Its assets in it and does not and never
has dealt in It. The tribesmen with
whom the CIA works, however,'do deal
In it, and raw opium in small amounts
has undoubtedly 'moved on Air America
flights in the bundles of Meo personal
possessions.
in Indochina, and as long as opium holds
the peculiar place it does in the econo-
my of that part of the world. But the
can,-but it isn't easy. No U.S. airline, stories must be seen in perspective, and
for example, has yet discovered how to 0 The CIA works closely with many in no way will they support the con-
prevent even shotguns from being of these figures. tention that the U.S. government,
'smuggled aboard their flights. The prob through the activities of the CIA, has de-
lem is in any event inconsequential, . 0 Ergo, the CIA Is supporting the liberately furthered the international
since the '.amounts are small and des- drug trade. narcotics trade.
.
,
.
fred McCoy. The extract starts with a
detailed description of the arrival at
Orly Airport in Paris on 25 April 1971 of
Prince Sopsaisana, the new Laotian am-
bassador to France.
Despite'the presence of a large recep-
tion party, the prince insisted on waiting
for his numerous official suitcases like
an ordinary tourist, and when they ar-
rived he at once noticed one was miss-
ing. He angrily demanded that it he pro-
duced, but was forced to depart with the
promise that it would he delivered to the
Laotian embassy, as soon as it was
found.
The suitcase contained 132 pounds of
pure heroin. France refused to accept
Sopsaisana's credentials, and he had to
return to LOS.( The gist of McCoy's article Is that the
While the first two statements are cor-
rect, the conclusion is not valid and is
not borne out by any evidence.
McCoy might, for example, have
asked who tipped the French govern-
ment off to this particular shipment.
Customs officials do not 'take it upon
themselves to search an ambassador's
luggage. Authority for that can only
come from the highest levels, and takes
days to arrange. -
The Orly officials, moreover; knew
precisely which suitcase to sequester.
They. removed the right piece of luggage
and let the rest go in a matter of min-
utes, obviously before there had been
any chance to ? search all of them. In
short they had heard from Vietiane ex-
actly what to look for, and this tip did
not come from the Laotian government.
The U.S. government, through the
State Department and the ClA, is doing
all it can to scotch the trade. The gov-
ernment of South Vietnajn has had im-
pressed on it that collusion between its
customs officials and arriving smu