Nation IN BRIEF : FLORIDA : Noriega Defense Assails Former Pilot

The defense attorney in Manuel A. Noriega’s drug and racketeering trial sought to cast doubt on the testimony of former Noriega pilot Floyd Carlton-Caceres. Under cross-examination, Carlton-Caceres held firm to testimony that he delivered at least $600,000 in drug money to Noriega in 1982 and 1984. He maintained also that Colombian drug magnate Pablo Escobar had paid $4 million in protection money to Noriega and $1 million to ransom a cocaine-carrying ship that had been detained by Noriega’s troops. The defense did point out some inconsistencies in Carlton-Caceres’ descriptions of packages said to have contained the drug money.