CONTRA-COKE TIE EYED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100300012-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 11, 2010
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: December 31, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2010/08/11 :CIA-RDP90-008068000100300012-4
ALE ~p~ NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
ON P~ e
31 December 1986
~ House crime panel launches probe
on a-co e e e .
e
into allegations that aCon-
tra gunrunning operation
linked to Lt. Col. Oliver
North was partly financed
by cocaine smuggled into
the United States, the Daily
News learned yesterday.
Hayden Gregory, the sub-
committee counsel who has
just returned from conduc-
ting interviews is Miami, de-
clined comment.
Attorney General Edwin
Meese had previously re-
vealed that North master
minded the secret diversion
of millions of dollars of Ira-
nian arms money into the
Contra gunrunning opera-
tion. But Meese stalled an
FBI Probe in Miami leaf
October into Contra arma~
smuggling and drug traf-
ficking at the request of
North's boss, Vice Adm.
John Poindexter.
The House subcommittee
is focusing on allegations
made by a Washington pub-
lic interest law firm, Christ-
ic Institute, is a federal
court suit in Miami.
Daniel Sheehan, Christie
counsel, is a court affidavit,
said he has the names of nix
civilian pilots who claim
they flew guns, ammnnttion
and C-4 explosives from tiN
United Staten t0 the Costa
Rican ranch of John H~t11,
an American citrus farmer.
The pllots Wen ferrkd
cocaine back to the U.S.l,
BY JOSEPH VOt.Z
Wsw~ WaMwrp~on g,,,~
WASHINGTON - The
House crime subcommittee
headed by Rep. William
Hughes (D-N.J.) has quietls-
launched as investigation
thrnugh Miami and Mem-
phis, and claim the money
wan used to finance Contra
operations.
Sheehan has refused to
release the names of the
pllota, saying they insist up?
oa immunity from prosecu-
tion before testifying.
Hull now
ralia
Co
can wan
escri ed
re
rters
os
a
ear as av
es
an as
av
c a
in a
lot to kill dissident
Contra ea er ~ en as ra.
e a i su os
Rica against the reporters,
Martha Honey and Tony
Avirgaa, but loaf.
North aide named
A sailed arena smuggler,
Peter Glibbery, also has told
newsmen that he watched
with Robert Owen, North's
liaison to the Contra:, as
arena shipments arrived at
Hull's ranch.
The Chriatic suit, naming
Owen as one of the defend-
ants, said that starting in
September 1983, Hull's
ranch wan used as a trans-
shipment point to smuggle a
ton of Colombian cocaine
into the U.S each week.
The suit contends that
Owen "has used or invested
income received from the
pattern of racketeering
activity" to establish a
Washington PR firm, Idea
Inc. Leonard Greenbaum,
Owen's lawyer, has declined
comment.
Sheehan said that he has
talked Lo three Drug En?
forcemeat Administration
agents who contend that the
private Contra aid network
was linked to big?time Col-
ombian drug dealer Pablo
Escobar.
No hard evidence
DEA officials in
Washington have repeatedly
contended that they have no
hard evidence of Contra in?
volvemeat in drug traffick-
ing.
House crime subcommit-
tee investigators also have
interviewed a jailed arena
smuggler, Jesus Garcia,
who says he was an opera-
tive is Contra arms smug-
gling. Garcia, a former Dade
County (Miami) deputy sher-
iff, has claimed it was "com-
mon knowledge" that
cocaine was financing the
Contra operation. He said
that he saw cocaine sad
weapons stored under the
name roof.
Sheehan said that he also
had eyewitness testimony
from a man identified only
as "David," a Nicaraguan
now believed to be dead,
who said he was part of an
"international brigade,"
based on Hull's ranch in
1985.
David said that the bri-
gade was "du'ectly in-
volved" is transshipment of
large quantities of Col-
ombian cocaine from Hull's
ranch to the U.S.
Approved For Release 2010/08/11 :CIA-RDP90-008068000100300012-4