Ivan Andabak, a former Bosnian-Croat militia general, went on trial Monday on charges of smuggling 660 kilos (1,452 pounds) of cocaine, local media reported.
Andabak, who was arrested in September, pleaded not guilty when he appeared in court in the western Croatian town of Rijeka, charged with organizing a cocaine shipment worth 61 million dollars (66 million euros) from Ecuador and destined for Gambia.
The cocaine was seized in Rijeka in December 1999.
British citizen Paul Dexter Farrow is being tried in absentia on similar charges.
Although a Croatian citizen, Andabak served as a general in the Bosnian Croat militia during Bosnia's 1992-95 war.
He was deputy to Mladen Naletilic, alias "Tuta", currently being tried in The Hague by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for alleged war crimes.
UN representative in Bosnia Jacques Klein said in September that Andabak was the "main suspect" in the March 1999 car bomb attack that killed Jozo Leutar, deputy interior minister of the Muslim-Croat Federation.
Leutar was carrying out an investigation into organized crime at the time – ZAGREB (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
