DRUG SMUGGLER CAME TO IRELAND FOR BANK LOAN

Florida-based drug smuggler Fernando Pruna is not the kind of customer
to whom most Irish banks would happily lend more than $1 million.

The Moriarty tribunal was told yesterday he received the loans from
Guinness Mahon Cayman Trust between 1985 and 1988.

At the beginning of that period Pruna had begun expanding his
Miami-based marijuana smuggling business, and moving into the more
lucrative cocaine trafficking trade. Key Customs officials were part
of his elaborate ring which brought millions of dollars worth of drugs
from Colombia to Florida through the Bahamas and Belize.

By the end of that period, 1988, he had been indicted on charges of
drug trafficking, cocaine conspiracy and possession with intent to
distribute cocaine and marijuana. He had fled to Argentina, using
forged documents to avoid arraignment, and had begun a four-year
battle to avoid extradition back to the US. He was eventually returned
to the US and in 1993 he was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment for
drug trafficking and attempting to bribe a witness.

Pruna (64) would not be considered a safe customer by most Irish fund
or bank managers. He arrived in the US in 1980 after being released
from a Cuban prison by Fidel Castro, who had held him as a political
prisoner for the previous 17 years.

Pruna initially worked as an investment banker in Miami, before
teaming up with his brother, Andres, to begin drug
trafficking.

According to FBI agents, Pruna's operation quickly expanded. By the
time he was arrested his smuggling scheme included airdrops of
marijuana from Cessna aircraft, the use of mother ships and fast boats
from the Bahamas, and a refuelling station in Mexico for his drugs
vessels.

With the scale of the smuggling came the rewards. His assets included
a 140-acre ranch in Texas, aircraft and jewellery. On his arrest, FBI
agents seized three freighters, five smaller boats, a plane, $54,000
in cash and property worth $500,000. As part of the international
investigation, the Dutch authorities also seized a 120-foot vessel.

Pruna's drugs ring included corrupt Customs officials in key
positions. When FBI and Customs Service agents swooped on Pruna in
1987 following a two-year investigation, they arrested 23 people,
including three former customs supervisors. These included a pilot who
ran the radar and drug-spotting planes during night patrol flights
from Florida, the official who ran the customs unit at Key Largo, and
the official in charge of the tactical enforcement division in New
Orleans.

Born in 1935, the son of a prominent Havana lawyer, Pruna attended
private schools in the US and worked for three Canadian mineral firms
before returning to Cuba in 1957. He was elected to Cuba's House of
Representatives but following the revolution he was arrested and
sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.

Pruna escaped and joined the anti-Castro resistance movement, fighting
as a guerrilla in the mountains of Pinar del Rio. At the age of 24 he
was captured and sentenced to death by firing squad after being
accused of being a CIA agent. However, his death sentence was
subsequently replaced with a 35-year sentence. He was released after
17 years and left Cuba.

During a newspaper interview from his jail cell at the Federal
Correction Institute, Jessup, Georgia, in 1993, Pruna expressed regret
for whatever harm he had caused. "I never took drugs, not even
marijuana," he said. "Yes, I got rich and had an opulent lifestyle. It
was a dreadful mistake."

Due to a combination of good behaviour and parole, he was released
from jail in 1996 and is living out the remainder of his sentence
under Probation Service supervision in Miami.

Eamon Timins can be contacted at: etimins@irish-times.ie