26 July 1988
The Associated Press
LONDON (AP) _ One of 22 people charged with running the largest Asian-based marijuana ring ever uncovered appeared in court Tuesday for a hearing to expedite his extradition to the United States.
Nick Jordan, a spokesman for Scotland Yard, the London police force, identified the prisoner as Chi Chueun Lo, a 29-year-old travel agent. Neither Scotland Yard nor the court would give Lo's nationality or the identity of three other men arrested in Britain Monday.
On the Spanish Mediterranean island of Majorca, three Britons, including one man described by U.S. authorities as "the Marco Polo of drug trafficking," were jailed Tuesday following their arrest on similar charges. They were among 22 people indicted Monday by a federal grand jury in Miami.
The three in Majorca were identified as Dennis Howard Marks, 43, his wife, Judith Marks, 34, and Geoffrey Kenion, 46.
U.S. authorities said the ring was led by Marks, an Oxford University graduate who in the past claimed to be an agent for MI6, the British counterintelligence agency.
U.S. Attorney Dexter Lehtinen said the group shipped marijuana from Thailand and hashish from Pakistan, and operated in England, West Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, the United States and other nations. The authorities said the group amassed $30 million worth of property that the U.S. government wants confiscated. Police agencies from many of the countries involved participated in the investigation. U.S. authorities called it the largest Asian-based drug ring ever uncovered.
In London, the jailer's office at Bow Street magistrate's court said Lo, whose arrest warrant claims he was importing hashish into the United States between 1980 and 1988, had been remanded in custody until Aug. 2.
Jordan said that British police are still seeking one other man, and that the three in custody in London are being interviewed prior to being charged.
Marks reportedly told a British court following a 1974 arrest on drug charges that he had been involved in smuggling while trying to infiltrate the IRA for British intelligence. He was acquitted. Marks, his wife and Kenion had been living on Majorca, said officials in the island city of Palma.
A Majorca police spokesman, who would not give his name in keeping with Spanish custom, said it was expected the U.S. request for extradition would be made and acted upon within the legal limit of 80 days.
The police spokesman also described as "lies" news reports that Palma police had arrested a suspected IRA activist named James McCann along with the Marks and Kenion.
Six people meanwhile remained in custody Tuesday after police discovered a cache of 17 tons of hashish in a tunnel north of Barcelona on Sunday. It was the biggest drug bust in the country's history.
Previous Article
Post a Comment