2 LINKED TO GREENPEACE BLAST SAID TO BE OFFICERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000100450004-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 23, 2010
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: August 11, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100450004-7
ARTICLE APB NEW YORK TIFFS
11 August 1985
i PAGE . .~--
2 Linked to Greenipeace Blast said to BeL cers
By RICHARD BERNSTEIN terference at the Mururoa test site, to
PARIS, Aug. 10 - The two people
charged in New Zealand with blowing
up a Greenpeace ship last month were
part of a Defense Ministry security
team and held the ranks of captain and
major in the French armed forces, the
state-owned French radio said today.
The radio said the two, earlier identi-
fied as Alain Jacques Turenge and
Sophie-Claire Turenge, were on a mis-
sion to collect information about the
Greenpeace vessel, the Rainbow War-
rior, but it asserted that they were not
involved in the bombing attack on the
ship on July 10. It said the attack might
have been undertaken by a third coin
try to embarrass France.
The radio report, the latest element
in a case that has produced a host of
press reports that French officials
were involved in the Rainbow Warrior
attack, did not disclose its sources of in-
formation and has not been publicly
confirmed by French officials.
The French Government, acting
under orders of President Francois
Mitterrand, announced on Thursday
that Bernard Tricot, a senior civil ser-
vant with ties to the rightist opposition,
would head a formal inquiry to deter-
mine if Government agents were in-
volved in the Rainbow Warrior affair.
The re orts of involvement were
roa(le -In two c n-
had no sRng2GUM with M OPIUM-
Accord' to the radio the
tain in the French external Intel
agency. ow two Turenges are re-
lated was not known.
Any connection between French offi-
cials and the operation against the
ecologists' ship would greatly embar-
rass France, whose nuclear weapons
tests in the South Pacific are opposed
by most of the countries in that region.
The Rainbow Warrior was due to
head a flottila of ships to protest
French nuclear tests at Mururoa Atoll
in Polynesia.
One crew member, a Portuguese
photographer, was killed when two
bombs attached magnetically to the
ship's hull exploded. The ship sank.
The broadcast today on the state-
owned station France Inter was consis-
tent with reports that the Turenges
were French officials, but its general
thrust was to deny French responsibil-
ity in the attack.
agency. but were mill tArv
o
to ew to ce ect information
to orotelt
Ftencb nuclear tests.
It sal they were to observe any anti-
nuclear activities aimed at possible in-
identify the leaders of the Greenpeace
expedition, and to relay any informs.
tion to the officials responsible for in-
suring the safety of the tests.
The carrying gee, who were found to be
false o passports, were
arrested by the New Zealand police two
days after the bombing and were later
charged with murder and arson.
The radio report did not explain why
the Turenges, if they were French offi-
cers, were carrying false Swiss pass-
ports, nor did it indicate whether the
names on the passports were real.
The couple has been at the center of a
New Zealand police investigation that
has uncovered strong evidence that the
operation against the ship was well-
planned and coordinated and involved
large sums of money.
A major mystery in the case can.
cerns three French dtfaeos being
sought by the New Zealand police. The
three were reported to have been
abuard a chartered boat, the Owes,
that was seen in the vicinity of the
Rainbow Warrior before the bombing.
The boat was last sighted an an As s-
tralian island on July 17.
The radio . spot crewman on the G today said the slain
reenpesce ship, Fer-
nando Pereira, was a member of a
pacifist group with close ties to the
Soviet bloc. It also contended that the
Rainbow Warrior was equipped with
powerful radio transmitting equipment
that could have relayed infot nation
about the tests to distant places.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/23: CIA-RDP90-00806R000100450004-7