Torrijos offers to arrest brother

Press, 21 February 1978, Page 9

Torrijos offers to arrest brother

NZPA Washington The Panamanian ruler, Omar Torrijos, has made a conditional offer to surrender his brother to face American narcotics charges in an effort to win support for the Panama Canal treaties, according to American officials.

General Torrijos told Senators Bob Dole and Paul Laxalt, both Republicans, on December 30 that he woqld turn over his brother, Moises, to American authorities or arrest the brother himself if the United States will show him evidence to support the charges, said a Dole aide who was present at the meeting. The aide did not wish to be identified.

In a copyrighted interview appearing in the “Atlanta Constitution,” General Torrijps said: “I have begged for proof. If such proof exists, I would put my brother in jail. I

would not have done thqt two years ago while my mother was alive, it would have killed her. But it he is guilty now, I would put him in jail. Those who make such charges' without proof are not typical of the American way. General Torrijos was quoted as saying during a six-hour talk in Panama with the newspaper’s editor, Hal Gulliver, that he was sure “no-one in my family would be in that type of business.” A Carter Administration source said that Justice Department officials were taking steps to respond to the offer. The issue will be raised! during a closed Senate session tomorrow to diseqss allegations that the Panamanian chief of State, his relatives, and other ranking Panamanian officials have been involved in drug trafficking.