Drug ring

Guam

Drug ring under wrap

WITH a shoestring grant of $U563,000 Guam and federal police opened a ‘front’ store on Guam in June of 1988 with the intention of breaking a stolen property ring that had been plaguing the island. At ‘Zane’s

U.S. Surplus’ they videotaped ring mem

bers who sold them the stolen stereos and appliances and within six months had enough evidence to wrap up the

operation.

But then something unexpected hap

pened. Operation SCORPION began to

expand its territory as those who were caught began to cooperate and talk ab out the heroin habits they stole to feed, who was selling them the illegal narcotic, where it was coming from and how it was smuggled into Guam and on to the mainland United States.

SCORPION gave birth to FRUITBAT which, by the time the operation was over, had led to the arrest on 40 people, mostly residents of Guam and Palau, in

connection with a heroin and marijuana smuggling ring that had been doing a multi-million dollar business annually since 1984. Twenty of those arrested

have already pleaded guilty and prosecu

tion of the remaining half for continuing criminal enterprise and violation of US narcotic laws was expected to begin in

September.

Many of those arrested on Guam

allegedly fed their habits through burg

laries, robberies and murder. The ring traded heroin and marijuana for guns and profits from marijuana sales were used to buy heroin from Thailand and the Philippines. The multi-kilo ship ments were smuggled into Palau and Guam and shipped on to the United States, according to federal indictments.

The heroin was 90 per cent pure, worth about SUSI million a kilo, and was brought in from 1984 to 1989.

The Guam sting operation and arrests also led to the arrest in Palau of 11 indi viduals, some of whom are alleged to be the leaders of the ring. They were apprehended by a team of federal and Guam drug enforcement agents who flew to Palau unannounced, made the arrests with the help of Palau police and brought those arrested to Guam where

they were charged in US District Court under the federal statutes.

A US Magistrate was brought in from Nevada. The judge refused bail for defendants considered a community danger or flight risk and set bail for others for amounts ranging from SUSI million

To Sus2O,Ooo.

According to the charges, Palauan nationals Melwert Tmetuchel, Leslie Tewid and Angehenio Sabino convicted three years ago of the 1985 murder of Palau President Haruo Remeliik headed up the smuggling operation, Their convictions on the Remeliik assassination were later reversed after their US American Civil Liberties Union

lawyers successfully argued the men’s

rights to a fair trial had been violated.

Also arrested on Palau were Hokkons Baules, a member of the Palau status commission and a former delegate, and francisco Asanuma, once a delegate in the Palau National Congress. Baules

pleaded guilty to limited participation in

alleged ring, saying he only took part in early 1984 before he became a senator.

Melwert Tmeteuchel is the son of Roman Tmetuchel, prominent Palau leader and businessman, who ran for President last year, losing by 31 votes to incumbent

president Ngiratkel Etpison. Melwert was

the operation’s ‘kingpin’, U.S. Drug En

forcement Administration officials charge. He faces counts of continuing

criminal enterprise, conspiracy to import

and distribute heroin and conspiracy to

import marijuana.

A lawyer retained by Palauan defen dants is seeking a US Supreme Court

ruling, arguing his clients rights were

violated by their arrest and transport to Guam from a trust territory. US officials said they took the men to Guam because it has the closest US District Court. Since Palau remains a trusteeship under US administration, arrests can be made there for violation of US narcotics laws, federal law enforcement officers argue, pointing out that secrecy and speed were needed because officials feared news of the coming arrests would have sent the suspects into hiding.

SCORPION, in which police posed as buyers of stolen property, and FRUIT BAT, in which local and federal agents participated, set new standards for federal-Guam law enforcement coopera tion. Both operations required close coordination of the Guam police, FBI, Naval Investigative Service, US Drug En forcement Agency, US attorney’s office,

the Guam Attorney General’s office and other Guam bureaus and departments.

Guam leaders, who praised the new alliance, believe the indictments also will bring convictions for six unsolved mur ders on Guam and a host of burglaries, Guam Governor Joseph Ada praised the teamwork, pledging to continue Guam’s cooperation with federal and Palau au thorities until the drug traffickers are put behind bars. “We’re gonna get you,”

Ada warned. “We’re gonna put you be hind bars.”

Palauan leaders were ambivalent. Pres

idem Etpison, through a spokesman said

“not everyone agrees that the bust was good for Palau.” Many question whether the crime fit the response, the spokes man said. At least 60 heroin addicts have been identified on Palau and numerous burglaries have been attributed to the need to get money for heroin habits, United States Congressional leaders also have urged action to deal with the drug use problem in Palau. Etpison also expressed concern that the federal in tervention might herald a new activist US policy on Palau and wondered whether other federal authorities would

begin arresting and prosecuting Palauans

for white collar crime as well. □