FORMER C.I.A. AGENT LINKED TO ASSASSIN'S WEAPON

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90B00170R000100040006-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 29, 2011
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: July 27, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/09/29: CIA-RDP9OBOO17OROO0100040006-4
C.I.A. Fomer AgentLinked to Assassin's .Weapon
By PHILIP TAUBMAN
S{adahiom.N. Ym6nmO
ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 26- The
Justice Department asserted today that
Edwin P. Wilson, a former American.
intelligence agent accused of illegally
aiding Libyan terrorists, played a key
role in supplying the weapon -that. was,
used to assassinate a Libyan dissident
in WestGermanyin 1980.+.
A former Wilson associate, - Wallace`
L. Klink. pleaded guilty, today in Fed-
eral District Court here to firearms
violations for his role in obtaining in the
United States a pistol the Government
said was- used to murder, a, former
Libyan diplomat in aoin.. . . _ _"
Mr. Wilson was not formally charged
with any crime in today's pro;eeding,
But Theodore S. Greenberg, an assist-
ant United States Attorney, later said
that Mr. Wilson's involvement in sup
plying the gun was the subject of a corm.
tlmdnginvestlgation...:,.. .
It was the first time in the six-year in-
vestigation of Mr. Wilson's activities,
that the Government had formally
linked him to an actual assassination
A lawyer for Mr.-. Wilson. Herald'
Price Fahringer of New York, denied
that his client had had a role in supply;
ing the gun used to kill the Libyan. In a
telephone interview, - Mr. Fabringer
said, "We would expect,. if we ever had
to meet that accusation, that we could
successfallydispmveit." v..~.
MadtoPlan to Kill E:Be
Mr. Wilson was charged in 1980 with
conspiracy to kill a Libyan in exile- in
Egypt, But, : according to Justice Do-
partment - officials, that, plan was
aborted when the men supposedly hired
by Mr. Wilson to do the killing reported
the effort to the Central. Intelligence
Agency.
In addition, a former Green Beret sol
dier whom prosecutors said they be.
lieved had been hired by.Mr. Wilson,
was convicted last year of. misde.
meanor assault charges - in the 1990
shooting of a Libyan student in Fort
Co -
lins, Colo. The student survived; and.
Mr. Wilson was not charged.
Mr. Wilson, a former covert agent for
the agency, was indicted in1960 on
charges of illegally shipping explosives
to Libya as part of a project to train ter-
rorists.
In 1976, according to the justice De.
partme it, he and another former agent,?
Frank E. Terpil, made a deal with Col.;
Muammar elQaddaft, the Libyan lead..
er, to sell their expertise in intelligence-
and military matters to Libya.
Mr._Wilson? was apprehended .lastMr,Wilsontoldhim to turn the weapons
month in New York and is in. custody over to another Wilson associate, who
awaiting trial. Mr. Terpil is a fugitive, packed them in a toot box. Sometime in
reportedlyliving in Beirut, Lebanon. I late March or April, that associate, who
: Mr. Wilson's role in the West German
assassination was-said by the Justice
Department to have begun in March
1979, when be telephoned Mr.. Klink
from overseas and instructed him to
purchase four pistols. At the time, Mr.
!link-was employed by Mr. Wilson as a
farmhand at his Upperville, Va., estate.
Mr. Klink; a former member of the
Army Special Forces; or Green Berets,
worked for Mr.Wilson, in Libya before
moving to the Virginia farm,. the Cor-
erament said. He was one of more than
a dozen former Green Berets whom Mr.
Wilson recrdted.in 1971 to be Instruc-
tors at the Libyan terrorist training
project, according to Federal pro ecu-
was not Identified by the Government,
new with the box to Rotterdam via Lon
don. From there, the associate drove to
Bonn.
The Government reported that-the
pistols were delivered -in Bow to a
Libyan outside the Libyan Embassy.
Tberecipient wasnotidentified. - - --
More than a year later, on May 10,
1980, the gun was used by Bashir El}
mida to kill Omran el-Mehdawi, the for-
mer finance attache and second sea :
Lary in thI' Libyan. Embassy inBaw;
the Justice Department charged.- Jus-
tice Department officials said that Mt.
Ehmida was in custody in West Germa.
hIlte victim, reportedly a critic. of
Weapon Shipped to Europe . to Libya in 1978 what his assignment in
Attar the telephone conversation with Bonn ended, American officials said. In
as
Mr. Wilson, the Government said, Mr. 1979 and 1980, at least eight Libyan
art
Klink. obtained -$l,500 of Mr. Wilma's patnates were killed in Europe as part
money from another Wilson associate of what American officials said was an
to elimioa
and traveled to Fayetteville, N. C., the effort by Colonel Qaddaft
site of Fort Bragg and Special Forces opposition to his Governm vernment:" ',
headquarters. Mr. Klink, in today's pros k9.
pleaded guilty to the illegal intersta
With the help of a friend, Mr.. Klink trarnsport of firearms. He denied having
bought the four weapons ordered by Mr. told his friend in Fayetteville, N. C.,
Wilson, telling his friend, according to that the weapons were intended for an
the Government, that they were needed agency operation, and he said he had
for a Central Intelligence Agency not known that the gums were to be used
operation outside the United States. foranassassination. .~
One of the guns was a Smith & Wessm Mr. Klink, if convicted, world face .,
pistol. - - - possible prison term of fiveyears and
After Mr. Klink returned to Virginia, $5,000 fine for his role- to the
according to the Justice Department violations .,...".. K..*;-.