American Held by Gang in Lebanon Is Released

An American, freed unharmed in Beirut after 11 months of captivity by Lebanese criminals, was a former marijuana dealer who also worked as an informant for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, federal law enforcement sources said Wednesday.

U.S. officials said the release of Steven John Donahue, 32, has no connection to efforts to free five Americans believed held as political hostages by Lebanese Muslim extremists.

“Mr. Donahue’s situation was in no way comparable to that of the five remaining American hostages in Lebanon,” State Department spokesman Charles Redman said. He added that there is no reason to believe a breakthrough to be imminent in the hostage cases.

“His detention reportedly resulted from a private dispute with Lebanese nationals,” Redman added.

Held by Drug Dealers

Other U.S. officials said Donahue was held by Lebanese drug dealers, apparently as a result of a narcotics-related dispute. Donahue told ABC Television in Beirut that his family paid $400,000 for his freedom.

Donahue appeared at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut on Tuesday night and asked for help. Redman said the embassy offered to assist his return to the United States. U.S. embassies around the world offer similar help to Americans in trouble in foreign countries.

In April, 1983, Donahue pleaded guilty in Newark, N.J., to possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, the Associated Press reported. He was allowed to plead guilty to the marijuana count, although he originally was also charged with smuggling hashish from Lebanon.

‘Large-Scale Project’

Contacted by the AP in Beirut, Donahue said Wednesday that he had been sent to Lebanon by the Drug Enforcement Administration “on a large-scale project,” which he did not describe further.

Federal law enforcement sources, who declined to be identified by name, said Donahue approached the DEA about 18 months ago with a plan to combat the flow of hashish and heroin into the United States. The sources said the U.S. agency turned him down but provided him with air fare to permit him to bring home his wife and child, who were then in Lebanon.

Asked why the DEA would pay for transportation for someone who was not working for the agency, the sources said, “It was for humanitarian reasons.”

According to the sources, Donahue worked as a confidential informant for the DEA “about three or four years ago.” Although the sources did not draw the connection, that would be about the time that charges were pending against him in Newark. It is not unusual for people accused of narcotics offenses to become informants, sometimes as part of a plea bargain.

No Time Element

The sources did not say how long Donahue was an informant, but they insisted that he was not working for the DEA at the time of his abduction in Lebanon.

Other U.S. officials sought to put as much distance as possible between the U.S. government and Donahue.

“He is not an employee, and he has never been an employee of the (Justice) department,” said Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, whose department oversees the DEA. But Meese said he would “never comment” on whether a person had been a DEA informant.

Donahue told ABC in Beirut, “I was held for economic reasons basically, not political, and the big danger for me was that they were going to turn me over to a political group.”

Held by Islamic Jihad

The five U.S. hostages are believed to be held by the shadowy Islamic Jihad (Holy War) terrorist group.

A State Department official said the captors have been “absolutely consistent” in their demand that the hostages be exchanged for Islamic Jihad members imprisoned in Kuwait for a series of terrorist bombings, including an attack on the U.S. Embassy.

The official said the United States and Kuwait have been equally consistent in refusing to meet those demands. He said there is no progress or news in the efforts to free the hostages.