The whereabouts of former Mossad agent Mike Harari, purported security adviser to the deposed Panamanian dictator and reputed drug czar Manuel Noriega, remained a mystery Sunday, as well as a feast of speculation for the Israeli news media.
Many here are convinced Harari is back in Israel.
Others claim he was captured by the Americans who invaded Panama two weeks ago, but talked his way to freedom.
Still others surmise that the United States indeed has Harari, but, for reasons known only to the intelligence gurus, now pretends it does not.
Harari, by all descriptions a figure straight out of popular spy fiction, was said by a U.S. Embassy official in Panama City last Thursday to be in the custody of the U.S. military in Panama.
On Saturday however, the same official told a different tale. “They thought they had him, but on further checking either they didn’t have him — most probable — or that he convinced them he was someone else,” the official said.
Reporters staking out Harari’s home in Afeka, a wealthy suburb of Tel Aviv, found the house empty and locked.
Then Harari’s son drove up. He refused to talk at first, insisting his father’s whereabouts were nobody’s business.
But when Israel Radio broadcast later that he had no knowledge where his father was, young Harari telephoned to say he did, in fact, know, but would not tell.
MILLIONS MADE IN ILLICIT DEALS
Harari’s wife failed to report Sunday to her librarian’s job at Tel Aviv University.
Harari, 62, is described as an athletic-looking man who almost invariably wears pilot-style dark glasses. He is said to have known Gen. Noriega since 1973 and to have personally recruited, equipped and trained his security forces.
He had been called the most powerful man in Panama, after Noriega.
Harari is also alleged to have made millions in illicit business ventures with the Panamanian strongman, who was once on the payroll of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
Harari is said to have been involved with Noriega in using the proceeds from drug sales to provide arms for the Contras, the Nicaraguan rebels supported by the Reagan administration to overthrow the Sandinista government in Managua.
Harari is still wanted by the Norwegian government for his alleged involvement in what came to be known as the Lillehammer affair, a murder in June 1973, for which several Israelis were convicted and sent to prison.
Allegedly, they were members of a Mossad hit squad out to eliminate a prominent member of the Palestine Liberation Organization who was in Lillehammer, Norway. He was believed responsible for participating in the massacre of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.
The Israeli agents killed the wrong person, however.
The Norwegian deputy state attorney said Norway was considering asking the Americans to extradite Harari to Oslo for trial.
But that may be moot now, since the United States denies it has Harari.
One theory among Panamanian figures is that the Israeli, a shadowy figure with extensive intelligence contacts around the world, may have been turned over by the military to U.S. intelligence for questioning.
According to that scenario, the U.S. official who first disclosed his capture unknowingly released classified information.
Other U.S. officials refuse to comment on that theory.
Harari has been described as Noriega’s closest associate. His arrest by the Americans would case somewhat their embarrassment over their failure so far to capture Noriega.
The deposed dictator has found political asylum in the Vatican Embassy in Panama.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
