TOKYO -- The U.S. Army said Wednesday it has launched an investigation into alleged smuggling of guns, drugs and other contraband by Green Berets in Thailand in the wake of last week's conviction of a sergeant in the elite unit who tried to kill his captain.
Sgt. Maj. Edward J. Gleason Jr. was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for offering $50,000 to an American civilian in an aborted plot to kill Capt. Paul Dumpson in Thailand last summer during a joint military exercise code-named Cobra Gold.
Military officials, while investigating the charges against Gleason, became concerned about allegations of widespread misconduct by Green Berets taking part in the military exercise and launched a separate investigation, an army official confirmed.
Gleason, 45, a Vietnam veteran assigned to the Okinawa-based First Battalion, First Special Forces Group Airborne, was to be transferred to the U.S. disciplinary barracks at Fort Levenworth, Kan., to serve his sentence.
In his weeklong general court-martial at Camp Foster in Okinawa, Gleason testified he only intended to plant evidence of a crime on the captain and did not intend to kill him.
Gleason allegedly hired James Bonard Fowler, an American living in Thailand, to kill Dumpson but the plot was called off when the sergeant came to believe he was under suspicion, prosecutors said. Gleason was arrested in Thailand in late July.
Embassy sources in Bangkok said Fowler went to U.S. military authorities in Thailand after being offered the money to kill Dumpson and 'cooperated fully' in the investigation.
The Pacific Stars and Stripes, a military newspaper published in Tokyo, reported Wednesday that 'the case fueled rumors that Special Forces soldiers were smuggling guns, gold and drugs.'
'It also prompted allegations that the Special Forces commander (in Okinawa) acted against soldiers who have testified in Gleason's defense,' the newspaper said.
In Bangkok, a source familiar with the investigation told United Press International in August that the commander of Gleason's battalion was under suspicion of smuggling gold, watches and clothing out of Thailand on military aircraft and selling them to his men.
At the time, the spokesman for U.S. Military Forces in Japan, Master Gunnery Sgt. Dale Hunter, told UPI that 'you can quote me as saying no such investigation is under way.'
But asked again Wednesday to respond specifically to the allegations, including the reports of gun and gold smuggling, a U.S. military spokesman said, 'the Army is continuing investigations into allegations of any other criminal activity.'
Several hundred Green Berets currently are headquartered on the Japanese island of Okinawa, a major battleground during World War II.
The Cobra Gold military exercise involving Thai and U.S. forces was one of many that American forces conduct throughout the region periodically to bolster relations with friendly Asian neighbors.
