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Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : CIA-RDP96-00788R000100330001-5 WASHINGTON POST 19 May 1984 Pg. 4 Libyan Allegedly Sought Hit Man From FBI Agent By Joe Pichirallo ‘Washington Post Staff Writer A Libyan student arrested last week on charges of purchasing pis- tols equipped with illegal silencers asked an undercover FBI agent to supply professional hit men to “elim- inate defectors,” a federal prosecutor said in court yesterday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carol Amon also said that Bashir Ali Baesho, 36, a University of Mary- land graduate student, had been im- Plicated in efforts by Libyan govern- ment officials to purchase parts for C130 military cargo planes and had. apparently been a middleman in an attempt by Libya to buy 30,000 ma: chine guns, . Amon said FBI agents found copies of a C130 parts list last week in Baesho’s car and in the apartment of Mathi Hitewesh, who was arrested with Baesho. Amon also said Baesho told an undercover FBI agent that “he was interested in elimi ting defectors and asked [the agent] if he could do a hit in Britain” = Baesho and Hitewesh, 37, a Lib- yan graduate student at the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania, were arrested to purchase three .45-cal. pistols equipped with silencers from an FBI agent posing as an illegal arms deal- er. Baesho and Hitewesh pleaded not guilty to weapons-related charges yesterday in federal court in Brook- lyn and were being held under a $10 million bond each, : Richard C, Shadyac, a Libyan government attorney, said in an in- terview that Baesho and Hitewesh were charged only with weapons vi- olations and that any other govern- ment claims about their alleged ac- tivities were “unsubstantiated.” Hitewesh, who has been in this country since 1980, is a member of the Libyan military, and the Libyan on charges of participating in a plot ~ SPECIAL EDITION -- TERRORISM -- 26_JUNE 1984 WASHINGTON TIMES 1 JUNE 1984 Pg.6 Terrorism controls endorsed MADRID — European justice inisters yesterday backed a proposal by Britain for action against for- eign diplomats who abuse their diplomatic immunity and take part in terrorist activities in host countries. The proposal was included in a general resolution calling for cooperation against terrorism and orga- nized crime that was approved by the ministers at the end of a conference in Madrid organized by the 21- nation Council of Europe. It recommended setting up an ad hoc commission to urgently study the Problems of terrorism and organized crime. Britain's Home Secretary Leon Brittan had specifi- cally urged European nations to bar diplomats expelled from other countries for links with terror- ism. NEW YORK NEWS 19 May 1984 Pg. 6 Can’t close borders to Libyans: U.S. By JOSEPH VOLZ and BARBARA REHM Washington (News Bureau)—De- spite Libya’s announcement that it would set up suicide squads to kill Libyan. dissidents overseas, the State Department said yesterday it was not possible at: present to close U.S. bor: ders to all Libyans. One official stressed that Libyan visa applications to travel to the Unit- ed'’States were examined “very close- ly,” but added: . . “Those who qualify are getting them. We are trying to be as prudent as possible, but- pretty significant num- bers of Libyans are ‘still.coming into government is prepared to post his another development yester- day, the State Department con- demned threats by the Libyan gov- ernment Thursday that suicide squads were being created to hunt down and kill Libyan dissidents abroad. The US. government will “deal vigorously” with any such acts in this comity, a department spokesman the United States.” Officially, 1,722 Libyans, mostly stu- dents, were given visas to enter. this country last year. U.S. intelligence reports in the past have claimed that Col.. Moammar Kha- dafy was sending hit squads ‘to this country to kill American officials. The FBI has not been able to pin down the reports, and there have been no attacks on American officials by Libyans. An. FBI official said that: because Libya “has been identified as a state that sponsors and utilizes terrorism the FBI. actively has been investigating terrorist. activities by Libyan-spon- sored groups and will continue efforts to discover these activities.” ACCORDING TO the official Libyan press agency, JANA, the Libyan gov- ernment is setting up hit squads to kill dissidents. overseas, presumably’ in- cluding the United States and Western Europe. .. ee “The masses have decided to form’ suicide commandos to chase traitors, fugitives and stray dogs wherever they are and liquidate them physically and without ‘any “hesitation,” a dispatch ftom: Tripoli said, _ In an unusually strong response, the State Department Warned that the United ‘States: “is prepared “to ‘deal Ueorously with any such acts in the ‘s The pli tb'eliminate opposition 0° Khadaty ton aise week's abortive “Uprising where . ‘guerrill fuente oben ih'an pia en As t td assassinate, Khadaty. Approved For Release 2000/08/07 : cikpP96-00788R000100330001-5