Report: U.S. EMBASSY INTELLIGENCE CENTER PLAYED KEY ROLE IN MEXICO DRUG BUSTS

MEXICO CITY (AP) Agents of an intelligence center operating out of the
U.S. embassy in Mexico City have played a key role in seizing cocaine
shipments along Mexico's coasts, local media reported Thursday.

Officials at the embassy, which bristles with antennas and satellite
dishes, said they had no comment on the report by the Mexico City daily La
Jornada citing U.S. intelligence documents.

According to that report, the multiagency Information Analysis Center, or
IAC, has tipped off Mexican police and navy squads on the location of over
four tons of cocaine seized in ships and in the ocean.

The IAC, which the report describes as an interagency clearing house for
information on MexicoU.S. law enforcement efforts, also participated in
the pursuit of druglord Amado Carrillo Fuentes, who died July 4 after
undergoing plastic surgery.

The IAC cooperated closely with Mexican agencies in July to locate one ton
of cocaine which drugtraffickers dumped into the Caribbean from airplanes,
planning to pick up the bundles later with speedboats.

In January, the IAC gave the Mexican navy the location of the ship Viva
Sinaloa, which was found to be carrying three tons of cocaine.

(c) 1997, Associated Press