Ex-Spy Official Believes France OKd Ship Blast

A former senior French counterintelligence official said today that he has no doubt the bombing of the Greenpeace flagship Rainbow Warrior in Auckland, New Zealand, last month had top-level authorization in the Defense Ministry.

Roger Wybot, who headed the spy-catching Direction pour la Surveillance du Territoire from 1944 to 1958, said: “France did what it had to do over there in putting out of action people who were harming its interests.

“The fact that there were foul-ups in carrying out the operation against the Rainbow Warrior is the only mistake that should be admitted,” he said in an interview with the pro-government newspaper Le Matin.

Four Suspects Sought

At the request of New Zealand authorities, French police issued warrants Thursday for three men and a woman--all believed to be French secret agents--suspected in the bombing, which killed one man.

New Zealand has charged a couple with Swiss passports giving their names as Sophie and Alain Turenge with sabotage and murder in the case.

The government has not denied press reports in France that the couple are really French agents. Swiss authorities say their passports are false.

The Rainbow Warrior was bombed and sunk July 10 in the Auckland harbor as it lay at anchor waiting to lead a protest flotilla into French nuclear testing grounds in the South Pacific. A Portuguese-born Dutch photographer died in the blast.

Seen on Sailboat

The warrants named Raymond Velche, Eric Audrenc and Jean-Michel Berthelo, members of the crew of a sailboat that was spotted near the Rainbow Warrior shortly before the bombing.

The names are believed to be pseudonyms adopted by the three, who were traveling under false French passports.

The arrest warrant also said a woman identified as “Frederique Bonlieu” was wanted for questioning in the attack.

The woman is thought to have been a secret service “mole” who infiltrated the group.