Stephen Michael Kalish

Four men were convicted Monday in a major drug smuggling operation with links to deposed Panamanian dictator Manuel A. Noriega, but 16 co-defendants were found innocent. The defendants, most of them boat captains and truck drivers, had been charged with conspiracy, importation and distribution. Federal prosecutors said they smuggled 48,000 pounds of marijuana into North Carolina in 1982 and 280,000 pounds into Louisiana in 1983.

Four men were convicted Monday in a major drug smuggling operation with links to deposed Panamanian dictator Manuel A. Noriega, but 16 co-defendants were found innocent. The defendants, most of them boat captains and truck drivers, had been charged with conspiracy, importation and distribution. Federal prosecutors said they smuggled 48,000 pounds of marijuana into North Carolina in 1982 and 280,000 pounds into Louisiana in 1983.

An international bank that handled accounts for ousted Panamanian strongman Manuel A. Noriega pleaded guilty Tuesday to laundering millions of dollars of cocaine profits and agreed to forfeit more than $15 million in assets to the United States.