Drug Enforcement Administration

A Reagan Administration official testified Thursday that no evidence has been found of organized participation in drug trafficking by the Nicaraguan rebels. David L. Westrate, assistant administrator for operations in the Drug Enforcement Administration, said unconfirmed reports of a contra -drug connection prompted the DEA to set up a small group to monitor the situation.

Federal agents arrested 28 people and seized more than 1,300 pounds of cocaine during an overnight raid around Atlanta that dismantled one of the largest drug trafficking cells on the East Coast, the Drug Enforcement Administration said. The raid, known as Operation Long Whine, also netted 40 pounds of methamphetamines and $8 million in cash, the DEA said.

A former Drug Enforcement Administration budget analyst was accused of stealing $6 million from the agency, said to be the largest theft ever from the Justice Department by an employee. David S. Bowman, 57, is accused in a 74-count indictment of carrying out the scam from 1990 to 1997. He allegedly submitted hundreds of false payment vouchers in the name of a sham company that led to checks being sent to a post office box he controlled.

Karen P. Tandy was sworn in as the first woman to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, which is expected to shoulder more of the anti-drug workload with the FBI's renewed focus on terrorism. Tandy, a former prosecutor and Justice Department official, said her main goal is for the DEA to work on dismantling drug organizations completely. The DEA's roughly 4,600 agents are expected to grow in the coming years as the FBI handles fewer and fewer drug cases.

A former employee of the Drug Enforcement Administration pleaded guilty Thursday to illegally profiting from his position by taking money from a DEA vendor that he managed, federal authorities said. Leopoldo B. Villanueva, 63, admitted that he received $13,500 from Redline Towing at the same time he was working for the DEA as a contracting officer in charge of negotiating and managing contracts with vendors.

A former Drug Enforcement Administration agent was sentenced to 27 months in prison this week after pleading guilty to bribery and other felonies stemming from his sale of sensitive law enforcement information to a private investigative agency. Emilio Calatayud, 36, was arrested in June in Mexico.