SAUDI PRINCE SAID TO SMUGGLE COCAINE IN HIS PRIVATE JET

PARIS -- A Saudi prince went on trial in his absence in Paris
yesterday, accused of being involved in a plot to use his private jet
to smuggle $92 million of cocaine into Europe.

Prince Nayef al-Chaalan faces charges relating to his alleged
participation in, or organization of, an operation to fly nearly 2
tons of the drug to an airfield six miles from Paris from Colombia.

He failed to appear at a preliminary hearing last month, citing
"vital professional reasons," and is liable to arrest under an
international warrant.

The prince, who is not in line to the Saudi throne, was caught up in
an investigation that began seven years ago when police seized 1,800
pounds of cocaine in a raid on a house in Noisy-le-Sec, on the
northeastern fringe of Paris.

French and American investigators found a Saudi link for the drugs,
which were allegedly destined for the Spanish and Italian markets.

The prince's Boeing 727 was said to have been used to land the
cocaine at Le Bourget airport outside the capital.

The inquiry led to what French observers have called a rare level of
international cooperation among the drug enforcement authorities of
France, Spain, Colombia, Switzerland, and America. The prince, who is
defended by one of France's best-known lawyers, Jacques Verges, also
is wanted in Switzerland for alleged money laundering.

He denies any connection with the smuggling operation and says he is
the victim of an American-inspired conspiracy.

In a recent interview he described the case against him as absurd and
claimed that Colombian drug barons had reached a deal with the
American authorities to drop charges against them in return for
implicating "other smugglers real or imaginary."