U.S. Lauds Anti-Drug Effort by 30 Countries

Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh on Tuesday announced results of a monthlong, unprecedented cooperative drug enforcement effort by 30 nations that he says can become “the norm rather than the exception” for a stepped-up drive against narcotics traffickers.

“A signal has been sent to the drug kingpins,” Thornburgh told a news conference here. The nations, which include Panama, “are working together . . . in an effective effort to stamp out drug trafficking,” he said.

In Bogota, Colombia, John C. Lawn, chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration and president of the International Drug Enforcement Conference, described the operation as an “unqualified success.” The conference sponsored the effort, which focused on Latin America.

Officials ticked off the statistical accomplishments of the July 25-Aug. 27 effort--seizure of 11 tons of cocaine and $3.8 million in cash; destruction of 244 tons of marijuana, 118,000 coca plants, 13 cocaine laboratories and seven clandestine landing strips, and the arrests of more than 1,200 suspects.

Significant Breakthrough

Although they acknowledged that most of the results might have been accomplished without the cooperative effort, officials involved insisted that lowering the barriers between law enforcement officials in the participating nations constituted a significant breakthrough in the fight against illicit drugs.

“If there’s one thing everyone agrees on, it’s the need for greater international cooperation,” said Thornburgh.

Lawn, who appeared at a Bogota news conference with drug enforcement officials from several Latin American countries, said that planning would begin immediately for new simultaneous operations.

“We have shown that nations with differences can ally and work together against a common problem,” he said.

Among those taking part was Lt. Col. Nivaldo Madrinan of Panama, a country whose military strongman, Gen. Manuel A. Noriega, has been indicted by two federal grand juries on narcotics, money laundering and conspiracy charges.

Madrinan criticized U.S. officials and politicians whom he did not name for conducting what he called “a campaign of defamation” against Panama. But he said the Panamanian government and armed forces are committed to cooperating in the fight against drug trafficking.

No Shared Intelligence

Thornburgh said there was no centralized intelligence shared with Panama during the operation and declined to comment when asked if other countries in the international organization would be asked to assist the United States in bringing Noriega to trial.

Lawn, after the Bogota news conference, called it proper for Panama’s representative to attend drug conference meetings. But another DEA official who declined to be identified confided, “If we had had our druthers, obviously he would not have been here.”

Terrence Burke, deputy assistant administrator for operations at DEA, said the cooperative effort had “broken down a lot of the reserve and animosity” that drug enforcers from various nations had displayed toward one another in the past.

As examples of joint efforts, Burke cited the cooperation of officials from Panama and Costa Rica in destroying marijuana and chemicals used in the manufacture of cocaine on both sides of their shared border.

In another example cited by Burke, Bolivian and Brazilian officials flew anti-narcotics intelligence missions together.

The Washington news conference was conducted at DEA headquarters, with most of the top hierarchy of federal law enforcement attending, including FBI Director William S. Sessions; Bureau of Customs Commissioner William von Raab; Stanley E. Morris, director of the U.S. Marshals Service, and Francis A. Keating II, associate attorney general.

Ostrow reported from Washington and Long from Bogota.