'A CONDUIT FOR ILLICIT NARCOTICS'

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000100160073-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 3, 2012
• Sequence Number: 73
• Publication Date: August 2, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100160073-7
THIS ASHIi'TGToN _P03 T
2 :Wu ust 1981.
,.Jack Anderson
A: C 0"n I I
bolster world resistance to Soviet colonial-:-,'
ism and to crack down : on the intema="
tional drug trade, two seemingly unrelated
goals, have come into collision in Pakistan.
;
The president wants to send:, billions'
of dollars worth of military equipment
to Pakistan, .;whose-national,airline;al;
; legedly is, a ; conduit: for' percoticsl .In..
deed, the State Department`iipparentl
has known for seven yearA that Pakistani
International Airlines isusedby Smug
;
glers to transport drugs ';
"Available information indicai that
PIA is a major conduit for illicit Iiarcot;-
ics from Pakistan to Western Europe,
the Far East; Canada end;; the 7United;
States, wArne one ; of'several se art,
documents examined by my associates
'Jack Mitchell and lady Iladhwnr
The drugs "are smuggled aboei'd. P7A(
,various cnmpartmenl4 inside the' air-`'
In the past, the CIA relates, "crew lug-)
gage [was not marked as belonging tb`a:
specific crew member, so if the bag con-
taming narcotics should be discovered,itI
cannot be sourced to any one individual.'%The dope'traffic - is ho penny-ante,,
..
operation, CIA documents make.clear
Amounts smuggled out of Pakistan have
`ranged from small packets of opium to
One 'incredible load of 1,700 kilos';
nearly two tops'of hgshish. r
Pakistan: hoe;- become the
drug-smug?
sa_
ghng capital of Asia, and the Karachi air
port is the center; with international Hight
leaving every day.. As a result, "narcotics;
'networks, organized by major internatiohal+
traflickere,,~ have become increasingly ddb
according to one CIA report 7
There' are =:reports; that auspicious=i
looking ;containers, have been socreted
Aboard PIA_planea: Fer example, I have
learned thou; cartons Marked *4 stared.
equipment 'had been hidden abtitie'
airiinergalleys. , `' ; t f'
Tie suspicious packaged werA in a;~
critical section : of the . fuselage ,with'1
naked wires ' that. 'could have caused a
,shorts and fires,".: inspectors. reported.:
.The Pakistanis _ had, asked .the._airplane
maker to , give PIA. written; assurance
tthat: such irregt,larstorage. was in, fact,
,routine `and ' permissible. e$ut s sources
familiar: with the exchange said there-
guest was turned down by the mss fac'
turer on grounds that the itotega Wee a
4iolation of safety rules ~~- ~.5-+~
5 ,_1n a meeting.with,:State.;Departmen
officials, . PIA' repieseiita. vesi said ; th ire
was ,little' chance: to ;incarcerate: or. re-
fiitove from service;thoae? PIA personnel
involved in drug trafficktng','becau'se;:as
they' lamely explained,ther;;empldyees
have a powerful union:' +r r ;'`"~
How high up the;smdggling.axtends
not documented/ But ee~veral: years,ago. A
APIA security: official himselltwae arrested
in Frankfort on ch~jf geS of drug ugglin,
t'i' Maybe the generals .Pakistan's,
,. ,
military dictatorship are unable to. halt
thedeadly traffic in drugs;'maybe:they
?don'twant to. In eitheir?:case, therr..Tai1
:`,ure to do so is hardly a recommendation,
for supplying them with military aid?!
!Yet' the. Reagan administration t,le
Pink ahead with the proposed aid pack
age,;.which is to"-inelude:sbmA ibfF
tinost our[
'sophisticated {;gfiter`;planes Ap=;~
?'' atently, the deciston:'_baasoeen made
an
p ' rtant tociiltivate ?
that it is more impo xA..
ally than to make an issue of,drugs+-r ;
Critics,:: meanwhile; have questioned
the wisdom of putting the United Statea~
:ori`the "side of yet another-repressige.
'dictatorship Diplomatic; and intelli-;
rgence,sources havi r waived that for ally
its apparently tight control, the'1fl1htaTyi
regime; is'In 'serious danger of tdppling
fioni internal preesureS:':Far: from; being
a':ptable ally, theSe,crttics warn, Press
;den may urn out- to Zia bey another
i F ?N 5
1hAlibtILani'' "i" .1
.. ~"otret.valbeeaan.b~n~d~a-~
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/03: CIA-RDP90-00965R000100160073-7