European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 17, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday june 17, 1987 probe reveals corruption among customs inspectors the stars and stripes military Roundup Page 9 los Angeles a a yearlong crackdown on corruption in the customs service uncovered a nation wide problem of inspectors taking bribes to close their eyes to drug smuggling an official said. The investigation called operation clean sweep has resulted in 16 criminal prosecutions of customs inspectors in a dozen cities and the filing of charges against 58 other persons accused of corrupting Agency employees said William Green associate customs commissioner for internal affairs. Almost All the cases involve bribery he said Mon Day and most Are related to drug trafficking. The amount of Money involved especially with drags is a recognized problem throughout the whole Law enforcement society Green told the los Angeles times. We can finally say we be addressed our prob lems. 1 Don t know How Many other agencies can say that in the past corruption problems in customs Cen tired on be bribery of officers at seaports and air ports when agents accepted payoffs to lower duties or admit contraband. But with the growing drug Trade More customs offi cers have been recruited to Aid drug smugglers by ignoring illicit shipments compromising investigations or helping smuggling operations. The Campaign was launched after customs com missioner William von Raab charged in May 1986 that ingrained corruption in Mexico s criminal jus Tice system hampered . Efforts to Stop drug activities. At the time the information or allegations or Hor ror stories were still coming in As fast or faster than we could address them Green said. About 35 investigators from other customs divisions were assigned to work with 15 of Green s internal affairs agents. Eight teams worked across the United states investigating tips and intelligence reports to develop cases. Agents interviewed informants co workers of inspectors and went undercover in the course of the investigations. Most of the cases targeted front line inspectors the customs officials most useful to smugglers if they can be compromised investigators said. Like most Law enforcement agencies Green said the customs service tries to fight corruption from the moment it begins recruiting a potential agent pro employment background checks Are followed by extensive training in integrity and ethics and ongoing investigations by internal affairs officers. Officials with the National Treasury employees Union which represents customs employees said the were unaware of operation clean sweep. The Union is challenging a Federal appeals court decision that rejected the Union s objections to mandatory drug testing for Agency employees. Delta Force was poised in 1985 to storm hijacked Jet paper says new York a trans world airlines sent a passenger plane to Italy to carry a . Army anti terrorist Force to assault the hijackers of a Twa Jet injure 1985, it was reported monday. The wan Street journal reported the raid never came off and the hijacking which began june 14 an left an american Sailor dead was resolved by negotiations after three weeks. A plan to have the army Delta Force storm the Jet was ruled out in part because the hijacked plane left Algiers Algeria and landed in Beirut Lebanon where chances of a successful assault were much worse the newspaper said. It said a Twa internal report detailed the airline s role in trying to end the crisis and free the 36 Ameri cans held hostage. When the commandeered plane landed in Beirut its Crew fooled the hijackers into believing that two of the plane s three engines had failed to prevent the Jet from taking off again. In essence the flight Engineer s panel lit up like a Christmas tree with flashing warning lights and Oral signals to the Crew. In addition to being Damn Good pilots they were Damn Good actors Jerry Cosley a Twa vice president at the time of the hijacking told Abc nightly  the journal account said that on the second Day of the Bracking with the plane on the runway in Algiers a . Emergency support team a group of a dozen terrorism experts and a hostage negotiator took off for the Mediterranean to pave the Way for the Delta Force. Twa was asked to provide one of its planes to serve As a Trojan hone to Fly the Delta Force into the Algiers Airport because if a big . Military plane roared into Algiers Airport the hijackers would suspect it was carrying an assault team the journal reported. Twa agreed and sent a plane which it arranged to have disappear in route. The deception was executed by the Pilot who switched off his radio Beacon causing the plane s Blip to disappear from the radar screens of italian air traffic controllers. The plane then headed toward a rendezvous with the Delta Force at Simonella a . Navy base in Sicily but the hijacked plane had taken off for Beirut Sev eral hour before the support team reached the Algier Airport. The team had to travel by scheduled Commer Cial flight because the algerians would t allow a Mili tary Jet to land. Meanwhile the italian government had delayed giving permission for the United states to use the Simonel la base which delayed the Delta Force. They stonewalled us for hours and Days the Jour Nal quoted an Anonymous former White House official assaying. Algerian officials also had said they would not Toler ate any . Attack on their soil the newspaper said. 20,500 Canadian letter carriers strike Ottawa up after failing to negotiate a new contract with the government owned Post office Canada s 20,500 letter carriers walked off the Job in major cities across the country tuesday. The letter carriers Union which has been demand ing new work rules and Job Security refused to say where strikes Are being held. However mail carriers already have set up picket lines in Montreal and also Are expected to strike in Calgary Alberta. A cat Wolfl Post spokesman said after 40 hours of non Stop negotiations that the parties Are a Long Way from a settlement. Canada Post intends to use hundreds of Scab workers to deliver the mail. Robert Mcgarry president of the letter carriers Union of Canada told reporters monday that the Union would hold rotating strikes in designated areas of the country to add pressure at the bargaining table. However he said a National strike is a possibility at a later time. The rotating strikes will affect about 800,000 pieces of american mail per Day. Canadian letter carriers deliver an estimated 300 million pieces of . Mail each year. The rift Between the Union and Canada Post centers on new work rules and Job Security. The Union is asking for Little More than the Cost of using allowance in pay hikes but it has rejected demands by the Post office that letter carriers accept a bigger workload and the right to Lay off employees whose jobs become surplus. The Post office has been ordered by the government to break even in 1988. Shirley Carr president of the Canadian labour Congress which includes the letter carriers Union accused the Federal conservative government of trying to break the Union. She said Job Security provisions Are critical to the survival of the Union since the Post office intends to begin contracting out some of the work to the private sector. Carr also warned the Post office not to use Scab labor in the event of a strike saying it would create bad  if strik Breakers Are allowed into plants there will be tense moments she said. The letter carriers Union already has agreed to let inside postal workers Cross their picket lines. But a spokesman for inside workers said his Union could Stop the mail moving by refusing to cooperate with Scab workers. German general new Azacs unit commander Geilenkirche Germany s&s1 Ger Man air Force Brig. Gen. Albert Weber took command of the nato airborne Early warning Force e-3a component in a ceremony tuesday. Weber took command from . Air Force Brig. Gen. Hugh l. Cox i. The command of the unit alternates Between German and . Generals. Weber was director of Federal armed forces flying safety for Germany. The base near the dutch Border is Home to nato s e-3a Azacs aircraft that Are manned by Crews from 11 nations. The unit provides nato with surveillance control and communications support for air operations including dose air support Rescue reconnaissance and air lift. Presiding Over the ceremony was maj. Gen. Klaus rimmed commander of nato s air borne Early warning Force at shape rimmed was the first commander at the Geilenkirche base and passed control of the unit to Cox injure 1984. Nato units compete for Canadian trophy Grafe Woehr Germany Competition for the Canadian army trophy award began monday and by tuesday afternoon nine Nat tank platoons out of 24 had completed firing for the gunnery award. The Competition Between nato s Northern army group no tag and the Central army group Cental will last through Friday. The top three teams from each group also will receive a trophy from their respective groups. The scores for the nine platoons that have finished Are no tag 43rd tank in Netherlands 18,260. 2nd in 66th regt 2nd army div fwd United states 17,352. 3rd pit 324th p Inzer in Germany 16,672. 4th lancers regt Belgium 16,422. 3b so Royal Hussars regt great Britain 16,606. Cental 124th Panzer in Germany 17,722. Royal Canadian dragoons Canada 17,157. 3rd pit 4th so 8th army Cav 3rd army div United states 16,980. 3rd pit 3rd in 64th army 3rd inf  states 16,792. Rhein main a wins pol Rodeo at Ramstein Ramsten a Germany teams from m Petroleum Oil and lubricant units across Safe competed saturday in the pol Rodeo a con test covering various fueling and fuel truck safety events. The Overall Winner was Rhein main a Ger Many. Second place went to Span Dahlem a Germany while Zaragoza a Spain took third and fourth place went to Ramstein a. Rhein main won the tire changing Competition. Ramstein took first place in the checkpoint event involving finding hidden safety errors on a fuel truck. Ramstein also won the figure eight driving Competition. In Ciurlik a Turkey won the slalom event a driving Competition. Rhein main took first in the backing Competition. Nato music festival to feature 8 bands Ramstein a Germany the 1987 nato music festival will bring eight military bands from six countries to Kaiserslautern june27. Participants in the biannual concert include the Navy Bonds from Germany Belgium and France bands from two British regiments bands from Safe and Usa eur and a Canadian forces band. The festival will take place at 8 . In the Fritz Walter stadium in Kaiserslautern. The event is sponsored by the City of Kaiserslautern and Allied air forces Central Europe. For More information Contact the Kaiserslautern tourist office at 0631-8522317