The World - News from May 8, 1986

Salvadoran President Jose Napoleon Duarte ordered the release of an army officer arrested in connection with a right-wing kidnaping ring, saying there was not enough evidence to bring Lt. Col. Roberto Mauricio Staben to trial. Duarte said Staben will resume command of the army’s elite U.S.-trained battalion. Another suspect implicated Staben in the ring, which is reported to have collected more than $4 million in ransom from the families of its victims. Duarte said the government has “presented for prosecution” the names of five army officers and several police inspectors.