GENERAL ANDABAK SUSPECTED OF COCAINE SMUGGLING

RIJEKA, Sept 13 (Hina) - A Croatian Army general, Ivan Andabak, who was arrested in the Karlovac area on Tuesday, is suspected of participating in the smuggling of 600 kilograms of cocaine, which was discovered in the northern Adriatic port of Rijeka late last year. #L# Andabak was transferred today to Rijeka, where this afternoon he was to be questioned by Rijeka County Court investigating judge Valentin Ivanetic. However, Andabak had to be admitted to hospital due to health problems. Around 7 pm judge Ivanetic told reporters Andabak would be questioned most probably in the evening after he was released from hospital. Around 7.30 pm, Andabak's court-appointed attorney, Rijeka lawyer Arsen Boskovic, arrived in front of the Rijeka Court. Boskovic said he still had not talked to his client and was awaiting his return from hospital. So far I cannot say anything about the case, he added. The confiscation of 661 kg of cocaine, worth about DM130 million, was one of the biggest in Europe last year, and the biggest ever in Croatia. A container with the drugs arrived in Rijeka from Ecuador. Croatian police had been notified about the arrival of the shipment by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the United States Department of Justice, which discovered that a non-existent company from Rijeka was listed as the container's buyer. The container was under police surveillance on its entire route, by ship to Amsterdam and by train to Rijeka. Upon its arrival in the northern Croatian port on December 24, 600 vacuum-packed packages of 90 percent pure cocaine were found. Four packages were left in the container whose destination, across Italy and Greece, was Valencia, Spain, to catch the buyer. After the container reached Gambia, the DEA and Gambia's authorities began an investigation which led to the March 15 arrest of one British citizen and several other persons. (hina) jn rml