SCHEME TO GRAB SOVIET TANKS GETS UNTRACKED

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100130078-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 21, 2011
• Sequence Number: 78
• Publication Date: July 12, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/21: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100130078-5
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAGE .E JL__
:scheme to Grab
`Soviet Tanks
Gets Untracked
Did the U.S. Customs Service
stumble onto a secret operation
that might have delivered a Soviet
'tank into U.S. hands? Customs of-
ficials say it isn't so, but the suspi-
cion lingers that they have blown an
undercover caper.
The facts are being kept under
wraps. That lends credence to the
theory that it involved an intelli-
gence operation. A federal judge
has sealed court records in the
can, but my associates John Dillon
and Donald Goldberg have learned
some of the details.
More than two years ago, the
Defense Intelligence Agency tried
to figure out how to smuggle a So-
viet T72 tank to the West so it
could study the gun barrel, armor
plating and infrared sensors.
Israel, which often turns over
captured Soviet weapons to the De-
fense Department, came close to
snagging a T72 in Lebanon when
one bogged down in the mud. But it
was in Syrian territory, and the Is-
raelis had to leave it behind.
Then the Soviets began shipping
T72s to Iraq.
The problem of intercepting
them en route to the Persian Gulf
WASHINGTON POST
12 July 1984
war zone remained to be solved.
Enter Leonard Berg, owner of a
New. York security company, and
Solomon Schwartz. a consultant
who has dose ties to the irate h.
gene community.
Schwartz also had contact with a
top Polish general through a friend
of the general. This general stood
high enough in the Polish commu-
nist hierarchy to get control of one
or two T72s.
Schwartz traveled back and forth
to Warsaw to arrange the secret
deal. The Polish general, in ex-
change for help in hijacking two
tanks, wanted money deposited in a
Swiss bank account (as protection
for himself and his family if and
when he defected) and a cut of an-
other weapons deal.
The details are still sketchy, but
one source believes the two T72s
were to be diverted on their way to
the battlefront in Iraq.
The arms deal in which the gen-
eral was promised a secret share
was the sale of several thousand
police weapons to Mexico, to be
picked up in this country, Great
Britain and Belgium.
According to competent sources,
Schwartz and Berg hired a pilot to
deliver the arms to Mexico, flying
from New York to London, then on
to Brussels and Warsaw.
Unknown to Schwartz and Berg,
the pilot was a customs informer,
and he tipped off officials to the
arms shipment. Customs decided
the weapons weren't destined for
Mexico, but for Poland, so they
seized the cargo in New York.
Customs' efforts to untangle the
mystery started to go awry. 0th-
ciais got a search warrant for
Berg's company, but for the wrong
floor. While one agent kept employ- :
es at bay, another hurriedly found a
judge to correct the error on the
warrant..
The public may never know"
whether it was a bona fide military "
intelligence operation, as defense
attorneys claim, or if it was a case
of rogue spooks out for a fast buck,
as customs claims. The case is now
under the Classified Information -
Procedures Act, which means those
involved are forbidden to discuss it. ??
However, sources close to the
case say Schwartz and Berg be-
lieved they were working on a le-
gitimate undercover plan to get a
Soviet tank. They discussed the
situation beforehand with at least =
one DIA agent and an FBI agent
who specializes in Polish intelli-
gence.
The FBI agent would only say,
"The government has a case and
the other situation, I believe, has its
case."
"We're going to say the pilot was
just a flunky and wasn't told the
whole plan in order to protect the :
interests of the United States,"
Schwartz' attorney said.
But prosecutor David Kirby said,
"If the government had authorized .
this in some way, it is doubtful we
would authorize a-prosecution." .
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/12/21: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100130078-5