Appeal Request

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0005430978
• Release Decision: IPPUB U
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: June 24, 2015
• Document Release Date: April 12, 2011
• Case Number: F-2010-01901
• Publication Date: August 17, 2009

APPROVED FOR RELEASE[] DATE:
03-01-2011
Delores M. Nelson
Information and Privacy Coordinator
Central Intelligence Agency
Washington, DC 20505
This letter constitutes an administrative appeal under the Freedom of Information Act, 5. U.S.C.
Sec. 552(a)(6).
I am writing to appeal the determination by the Central Intelligence Agency with regard to my
FOIA request filed on 29 June 2009, File number F-2009-01324 for records concerning Turkish
drug trafficker Ihsan Sekhban (also known as Laz Ihsan or Ihsan Seymanoglu), who was active
in the drug trade between 1940 and 1980. By letter of 15 July 2009, the Central Intelligence
Agency denied my request in accordance with FOIA exemptions (b)(1) and (b)(3). The agency
has stated that it can "neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of requested
records responsive" to my request.
I premise this appeal primarily upon two grounds. Firstly, information related to Ihsan Sekban
and to the CIA's knowledge of his activities exists already in the public domain. His activities as
a drug trafficker is cited by a Newsday expose entitled "The Heroin Trail" (for which the paper
received a Pulitzer Prize in 1974). This can be found in the enclosed Attachment A. A great
many declassified documents related to Federal Bureau of Narcotics' investigations into Ihsan
Sekban's criminal enterprises can also be found in the National Archive in Silver Spring,
Maryland. In one document (which I have enclosed in this envelope as Attachment B) dated 24
July 1950, reporting FBN agent Charles Siragusa states that Istanbul CIA station chief Ghosh
Zogby produced information related to Ihsan Sekban's activities.
Secondly, I submit this appeal with the understanding that information related to Ihsan Sekban is
entirely of a historical nature. Ihsan Sekban, according to my understanding, has passed away
and, with that, all investigations into his criminal enterprises have ceased. I seek the release of
information into Ihsan Sekban's activities for the purposes of writing a full-length monograph on
the history of drug trafficking in the Middle East during the twentieth century.
I look forward to receiving your decision on this appeal within the 20-day statutory time limit. If
you have any questions, or believe discussion of this matter would be beneficial, please contact
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