Suspect Silent on Murder of Drug Agent

A suspected drug smuggler believed by federal investigators to have information about the kidnaping and slaying of American drug agent Enrique Camarena is refusing to cooperate with authorities, officials said Monday.

Rene Martin Verdugo, 34, remained tight-lipped as he was arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Irma Gonzalez on charges of smuggling a ton of marijuana from Tucson, Ariz., to Vista in December, 1983.

He has refused to answer questions about the Camarena investigation since his arrest Friday near the Calexico-Mexicali border, according to Sidney Hayakawa, a supervisor for the Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego.

Verdugo is being held without bond at the Metropolitan Correctional Center pending a detention hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

U.S. officials said they were not sure how deeply Verdugo was implicated in the death of Camarena, 37, and Alfredo Zavala Avelar, a Mexican pilot who sometimes worked with the DEA. The two men were abducted in Guadalajara, Mexico, in February. Their badly decomposed bodies were found on a ranch in Guadalajara a month later.

“We’re not sure what he really did, or if he was actually there when Camarena was killed,” said Lee Johnson, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. “That’s what we’re hoping to find out by questioning him.”

Another government source close to the investigation, who asked to remain anonymous, said U.S. authorities doubted that Verdugo was closely involved in the abduction and killing but believed he could shed light on the crimes.

Two notorious Mexican drug traffickers are in jail in Mexico City on murder, kidnaping and drug smuggling charges in the deaths of Camarena and Zavala. U.S. authorities have seized $33 million in property and assets belonging to friends and relatives of the accused men, Rafael Caro Quintero and Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, who together are alleged to have amassed $3.5 billion in illegal drug earnings.

Hayakawa said the smuggling ring in which Verdugo is charged with participating was not linked to Caro and Fonseca’s drug operations. Members of the ring are alleged to have smuggled more than six tons of marijuana worth millions of dollars into the United States in 1983 and 1984.

A federal grand jury in San Diego indicted more than 30 people last year on charges related to the ring’s activities. About a dozen have been convicted, according to Michael Lasater, an assistant U.S. attorney.

Victor Vidal, a drug smuggler who entered into a plea agreement with federal prosecutors and has testified against others in the ring, told agents he arranged with Verdugo to smuggle a ton of marijuana from Tucson to Vista in December, 1983, according to an affidavit filed by DEA Agent David Gauthier in support of the charges against Verdugo.

Vidal told agents he had known Verdugo since 1979, “during which time he and Verdugo have dealt in multi-ton loads of marijuana,” the affidavit said.

At Verdugo’s arraignment Monday, his attorney, Howard Frank, said he planned to challenge Verdugo’s arrest on the grounds that federal marshals seized him in Mexico, where U.S. law enforcement officials have no authority.

U.S. government spokesmen initially said Verdugo was arrested in Calexico as he attempted to cross into Mexicali. But Johnson said Monday it appeared that Verdugo was heading from Mexicali to Calexico when he was arrested. A source close to the investigation said Verdugo--a Mexican citizen who holds a “green card” allowing him to work in the United States--was a resident of Mexicali.