Nation IN BRIEF : OKLAHOMA : Witness Describes Payment to Noriega
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
A Colombian convicted of drug dealing testified in Tulsa, Okla., that he gave ousted Panamanian leader Manuel A. Noriega $4 million in cash for protection of a cocaine laboratory to be built in Panama. Boris Olarte Morales has been a key prosecution witness in the trial of Jose Abello Silva of Colombia, who is charged with conspiracy to import drugs into the United States. Olarte, 27, pleaded guilty in May, 1987, and has been cooperating with the government.
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