Chilean cocaine claim denied

Press, 3 August 1985, Page 9

Chilean cocaine claim denied

PA Wellington The Chilean Ambassador to New Zealand, Mr Daniel Camus, yesterday “vehemently” denied assertions of a New Zealand-Chile link in the recent importation of cocaine to Australia. Mr Camus was commenting on a Sydney-based report quoting an Australian customs spokesman who said that “meet of the cocaine was coming from Chile and other South American countries.” The spokesman said that the traffickers were flying back to Australia via New Zealand to “fool” the Customs Service.

The spokesman further said that “an Argentinian airline began direct flights between Chile and New Zealand on December 18, 1984, and drug traffickers seem to be taking advantage of the link.” Mr Camus said, “What a

pity that the customs officer concerned had not taken the time to check his facts with his local civil aviation authorities. “If he had done so he would have been told that the flight in question is a direct one, Buenos Aires to Auckland, and does not land on Chilean soil. So much for the claim of ‘direct flights between Chile and New Zealand.’ “This seems to be the substance of the charge, which totally falls down on facts. There is just no evidence of any of the seized cocaine having been sourced in Chile.”

Mr Camus also quoted from the American State Department’s International Narcotic Control Strategy report in February this year which said: “The cocaine business has in fact drawn its net round every country in South America... except Chile.”