The World - News from April 18, 1986

The State Department acknowledged that some U.S.-backed Nicaraguan rebels have engaged in drug trafficking but said that it knows of no evidence that the rebels’ leaders are involved. “We have discussed this issue with the resistance leaders and have been assured in categorical terms that they will not tolerate the involvement of members of their organizations in drug trafficking,” Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams said. Federal law enforcement officials have been investigating allegations of drug trafficking by several groups of contras, as the rebels are called.