Saudi Prince Accused in Drug Smuggling Case
FLORIDA
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A Saudi prince used diplomatic immunity to smuggle more than 2 tons of cocaine from South America to Europe on his airplane in a trafficking conspiracy in which paintings were used to pay for drugs, U.S. officials said.
The Saudi worked with Colombians and a real estate agent in Miami to ship cocaine from Caracas to Paris in 1999, the officials said.
An affidavit described Nayef bin Sultan bin Fawwaz al-Shaalan as “a prince in the Saudi Arabian Royal Family, but who is not in direct accession to the throne.”
The Saudi Embassy denied that al-Shaalan is in the royal family and said it had not heard of him.
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