House Panel Finds No Contra-Cocaine Link

WASHINGTON —  A House committee investigating whether the Nicaraguan rebels have been involved in drug trafficking found no evidence that rebel leaders condoned cocaine smuggling into the United States, committee members said Tuesday.

Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control, which conducted a closed hearing into alleged contra drug links Tuesday, said at a news conference afterward that “no witness has given evidence that the contra leadership was involved in drug trafficking.”

Rangel said that the panel, after it hears testimony later this week from some assistant U.S. attorneys, intends to turn over its evidence to a House Judiciary subcommittee for further investigation.