U.S. Jury Indicts Haitian Colonel on Drug Charges

A federal grand jury Wednesday handed down an indictment of a top Haitian army officer who allegedly allowed drug traffickers to use his private landing strip for U.S.-bound cocaine shipments.

The indictment of Col. Jean-Claude Paul on narcotics counts was immediately ordered sealed by U.S. Magistrate William C. Turnoff, sources close to the case said on condition of anonymity. The charges are expected to be made public today.

Paul heads the feared 700-man Dessalines Battalion in Port-au-Prince, which ruthlessly suppressed anti-government demonstrations last year and was accused of protecting the gunmen who disrupted November presidential elections, killing 34 people.

Paul was considered close to the government council that ruled Haiti until a military-supported civilian president took office last month.

Also indicted Wednesday, sources said, were Paul’s brother, Antonio Paul, and the colonel’s former wife, Mireille Delinois. The latter skipped bond after being arrested in Miami last March on federal drug charges, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The investigation of Jean-Claude Paul has been widely reported for weeks.