STATE OFFICIALS ACCUSE FEDS OF AIDING FUGITIVE'S LIFE ON LAM

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- New Hampshire state police have accused federal
officials of aiding a marijuana dealer's life on the lam in Michigan.

New questions have been raised in the case against Alberto Lujan, 47, after
the release of court documents and testimony by a New Hampshire state
police sergeant.

Lujan fled the state in 1992, and he was arrested six years later in
Albion, Mich.

Sgt. Michael Hambrook's testimony in January and newly released court
records suggest that federal officials in Michigan used Lujan as an
informant while he was on the lam even though he was considered New
Hampshire's most wanted fugitive.

Hambrook testified about a meeting in February 1993, in Tucson, Ariz., four
months after Lujan was indicted. He said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael
Liebson and Drug Enforcement Administration agent Scott Syme, both of
Michigan, wanted officials in New Hampshire and Arizona to drop charges
against Lujan so he could work as an informant for them.

"The argument continued that this man could be very valuable to the
government, that he has a lot of valuable information that apparently they
were learning through a third party ... and that they felt Lujan should be
an informant and that we should just basically get out of the way or stop
being a roadblock in this thing and cooperate with them," Hambrook said.

Hugh Davis, a Detroit lawyer who represented Lujan, testified that Lujan
cooperated with authorities there on drug cases while being a fugitive.

"Mr. Lujan had been a fugitive for a number of years. During that time he
had engaged in a continuous process of cooperation with authorities in
various ongoing drug investigations," Davis said.

Michigan officials deny the allegations.

"That's false," Liebson said this week. "Lujan was not paid as an
informant. We did not use him as an informant."

"It didn't happen. Period," he added.

Lujan, meanwhile, pleaded guilty last week in Concord to federal drug
charges. Authorities said he helped move 33 tons of marijuana to New
Hampshire and the Northeast through Arizona and Michigan.

He faces 18 years in prison at his May sentencing.