Pubdate: Thu, 27 Jul 2006
Source: New York Sun, The (NY)
Copyright: 2006 The New York Sun, One SL, LLC.
Contact:  http://www.nysun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3433
Author: Colin Randall, The Daily Telegraph
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

SAUDI PRINCE SAID TO SMUGGLE COCAINE IN HIS PRIVATE JET

PARIS -- A Saudi prince went on trial in his absence in Paris 
yesterday, accused of being involved in a plot to use his private jet 
to smuggle $92 million of cocaine into Europe.

Prince Nayef al-Chaalan faces charges relating to his alleged 
participation in, or organization of, an operation to fly nearly 2 
tons of the drug to an airfield six miles from Paris from Colombia.

He failed to appear at a preliminary hearing last month, citing 
"vital professional reasons," and is liable to arrest under an 
international warrant.

The prince, who is not in line to the Saudi throne, was caught up in 
an investigation that began seven years ago when police seized 1,800 
pounds of cocaine in a raid on a house in Noisy-le-Sec, on the 
northeastern fringe of Paris.

French and American investigators found a Saudi link for the drugs, 
which were allegedly destined for the Spanish and Italian markets.

The prince's Boeing 727 was said to have been used to land the 
cocaine at Le Bourget airport outside the capital.

The inquiry led to what French observers have called a rare level of 
international cooperation among the drug enforcement authorities of 
France, Spain, Colombia, Switzerland, and America. The prince, who is 
defended by one of France's best-known lawyers, Jacques Verges, also 
is wanted in Switzerland for alleged money laundering.

He denies any connection with the smuggling operation and says he is 
the victim of an American-inspired conspiracy.

In a recent interview he described the case against him as absurd and 
claimed that Colombian drug barons had reached a deal with the 
American authorities to drop charges against them in return for 
implicating "other smugglers real or imaginary."
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman