AUSTRALIAN POLICE INVESTIGATE WHAT ROLE PYONGYANG MAY HAVE PLAYED IN HEROIN
SHIPMENT

MELBOURNE, Australia - Detectives are trying to establish whether North
Korea's reclusive communist government played a role in a multimillion
dollar heroin shipment intercepted in Australia.

Graham Ashton, the federal police officer leading the investigation, said
Friday the entire crew of the North Korean-owned ship Pong Su sought
consular assistance and refused to speak to police about the shipment of
110 pounds of top-grade heroin, worth $50 million. Police holding the Pong
Su's crew of 25 North Koreans and four other Asian nationals on drug
smuggling charges have sent Pyongyang a list of questions they want
answered about the shipment seized last month.

"They haven't been uncooperative," Ashton said. "We've had dialogue with
them. There hasn't been a wall of silence."

North Korea has denied any government involvement.

"We have informed the Australian side that the ship Pong Su is a civilian
trading ship and the ship owner's side has no idea of this at all," a North
Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said last week that while
there was no proof the North Korean government "made the decision to send
this ship and sell drugs into Australia to make money, we are concerned
that instrumentalities of the government may have been involved in this."

It is widely believed that Pyongyang exports illegal drugs to prop up its
failing economy. Authorities in Tokyo have accused North Korea of selling
amphetamines in Japan.

Ashton said prosecutors would claim in court that the shipment to Australia
was meticulously planned and was aimed at avoiding the nation's tightly
policed northern coastline by dropping the drugs on the southern coast.

The Pong Su had been specially modified to allow it to undertake long
voyages without putting in at any port to refuel, he said.

It allegedly had no bookings in any ports in Australia, or any cargo to
collect. There were secret storage cabinets and cupboards, Ashton added.

After allegedly making the heroin drop on a wind-swept beach, the boat was
pursued by coast guard and navy vessels until special forces troops
rappelled out of a helicopter to take control of it near Sydney.

The entire crew, which includes two Singaporeans, a Malaysian and a Chinese
national, has been charged with aiding and abetting the import of an
illegal substance, and they face maximum life sentences if convicted.