The Region - News from Feb. 20, 1986

A $110-million lawsuit was filed in San Diego federal court on behalf of a narcotics smuggling suspect who claims he was kidnaped in Mexico and turned over to American authorities at the border. Rene Martin Verdugo, 34, is in custody at the Metropolitan Correctional Center. He is suspected of witnessing the abduction and murder of American Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Enrique Camarena Salazar and a Mexican pilot in Mexico a year ago. The lawsuit alleges that Verdugo was kidnaped in Mexicali last month and shoved through a hole in the border fence, where U.S. marshals waited to take him into custody. The alleged kidnapers reportedly were four former Baja California State Judicial Police agents and two civilians who were paid by American authorities to grab Verdugo, the suit claims. The six were named as defendants in the suit, along with a number of federal officials, including U.S. Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III.