Pubdate: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA) Copyright: 2000 San Francisco Examiner Contact: http://www.examiner.com/ Forum: http://examiner.com/cgi-bin/WebX FBI OPENING HUNGARY OFFICE BUDAPEST, Hungary -- The FBI is opening its first permanent office abroad in Hungary, a move that will allow agents to work with foreign police in an investigative task force, U.S. officials said Tuesday. Four FBI agents will help Hungarian police investigate organized crime - particularly involving Russians - trafficking in drugs and weapons, money laundering and other crimes, the U.S. Embassy in Hungary said in a statement. FBI spokesman Bill Carter said in Washington that the agents will be allowed to carry guns but will not have law enforcement powers. They will accompany Hungarian police on raids, searches and interrogations. The office is expected to open this spring. "The office will be on the premises of the International Law Enforcement Academy, but there are many details yet to be worked out," the deputy communications director of the Hungarian National Police, Lt. Col. Andras Rozsa, told The Associated Press. It will operate on the basis of a September agreement signed between FBI Director Louis Freeh and the Hungarian Interior Ministry. At the signing, Freeh stressed the need for international police cooperation to combat international terrorism and organized crime. The FBI has 38 offices around the world in which agents are assigned to U.S. embassies as legal attaches, working with the local foreign police to follow up leads on cases. FBI agents have also worked on investigations abroad alongside foreign police before, but these were in temporary assignments limited to one case or several related cases, like the Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland, or the embassy bombings in East Africa. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart