WORLD : Soviets Get High-Tech Gear in Error

OSLO —  Norway broke Western export rules by mistakenly sending high-tech computers to the Soviet Union, believing it was flying supplies to a Red Cross hospital in Armenia, Norwegian customs officials said today.

There were 27 packages of computer equipment involved, and 18 have already been returned by the Norwegian-built Red Cross hospital. The rest will follow, the officials said.

The computers, which were meant to have been shipped to an American producer, got mixed up with the Red Cross shipment of washing powder and medicines in an Oslo airport storeroom.

“The computers were sent to the Soviet Union in violation of export regulations,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Sigrid Romundset said. “This is a very serious case.”