DRUGS-FOR-WEAPONS SUSPECT CLAIMS CIA TIES

A Danish-born Houston-area resident accused in a drugs-for-weapons deal
involving Colombian terrorists is a former informant who believed the U.S.
government backed the operation, his attorney said Tuesday.

The attorney, Erik Sunde, insists that client Uwe Jensen had limited
participation with his boss, Carlos Ali Romero Varela, to broker a deal
last year between an FBI informant and Colombian terrorists. The deal
involved trading cocaine for $25 million worth of anti-aircraft missiles
and other weapons.

Jensen, 66, a naturalized American, insists that the FBI informant told him
the U.S. government had given the deal its tacit approval, Sunde said. The
claim, he added, indicates Jensen had no criminal intent.

Sunde said his client found the informant to be credible based upon
Jensen's work as a paid informant for the CIA and the Drug Enforcement
Administration while he lived in Colombia in the early 1990s.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart Burns said he has no evidence that Jensen
was ever an informant but is looking into the claim. He also said the
conversation Sunde describes between the informant and Jensen never took place.

Last week, Jensen, Romero and two alleged Colombian terrorists were charged
in a criminal complaint with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and to
provide material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization.
They could get life in prison if convicted.

Jensen, arrested at his Mission Bend-area home in Fort Bend County on Nov.
5, will remain in custody after he waived his rights to probable cause and
detention hearings Tuesday.

The U.S. government is seeking the extradition of Romero, a Woodlands
resident, as well as Cesar Lopez and Commandant Emilio, said to be
high-ranking members of the paramilitary group United Self-Defense Forces
of Colombia. All three were arrested in Costa Rica last week.

If a grand jury indicts Jensen, he will appear before a federal magistrate
judge for arraignment. Sunde has said his client intends to plead not guilty.

Prior to Tuesday morning's hearing, Burns provided Sunde with evidence he
planned to present to a magistrate in seeking Jensen's detention.

After glancing over the documents, Sunde requested that U.S. Magistrate
Judge Marcia Crone give him more time. Crone begrudgingly granted the request.

When Sunde returned to court Tuesday afternoon, he surprisingly announced
that his client would forgo the hearings.

Afterward, Sunde said Jensen's decision should not be interpreted as an
admission of guilt.

"At this point, it is in his and his family's best interests to waive" the
hearings, Sunde said.

He also said Jensen's work as an informant offered him insight into U.S.
policy toward Colombia and bolsters his defense.

As an informant, Sunde said, his client saw "firsthand" the U.S.
government's support of Colombia despite its knowledge of the Colombian
army's collaboration with paramilitary groups.

Amnesty International and other human rights groups have complained for
years about paramilitary groups doing the Colombian army's "dirty work,"
said Wende Gozan, a spokeswoman for Amnesty International.