Cyprus

Cyprus is an island nation in the Eastern Mediterranean, off the coast of Lebanon. Its capital, Nicosia, became a significant location for various intelligence and drug trafficking operations, particularly during the 1980s.¹

Role in Drug and Intelligence Operations

Nicosia, Cyprus, served as a base for the DEA and CIA operations, notably through the Euramae Trading Company. This company, described as a DEA/CIA "front," was established in Nicosia by the Cypriot Police Narcotics Squad. It functioned as a transit point for heroin from the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, cash, documents, and bootleg computer software moving along the Beirut-Nicosia-U.S. pipeline. It was also intended as a meeting place for DEA and CIA agents with informants and clients, a message drop for CIA arms dealers supplying Iraq and the Mujahideen in Afghanistan, and a waiting room for DEA confidential informants and couriers from Lebanon.¹

Michael T. Hurley, the DEA Country Attache in Nicosia, had overall responsibility for Euramae Trading Company and its initiative to sell PROMIS software to Middle Eastern countries for drug abuse control. Michael Riconosciuto claimed to have handled communications protocol and financial transactions for operations in Lebanon from Cyprus, including those involving Maurice Ghanem and George K. Pender.¹

Lester Coleman, a DIA covert intelligence officer, worked in the office of Euramae Trading Company in Nicosia. He claimed that the DEA, along with Cypriot, German, and British police, ran a "drug sting operation" code-named "Khourah" through Cyprus and airports in Europe, which involved delivering heroin from the Bekaa Valley to the United States. This operation allegedly used Pan Am Flight 103 as a "controlled delivery" flight, which later tragically exploded over Scotland.¹