The Hydra

I arrived there on August 24th , 1 992 ,

which is also the Ukrainian Independence Day.

Independence came unexpected .

Countries themselves were not ready for this.

They had to start from zero.

My assignment was to

make contact with the entities that were responsible for drug control .

So the first year or two

I found myself constantly in airplanes.

You had to have face to face relationships.

We received information about a 9000 kilogram order

of a chemical transfer, this shipment

through Ukraine, and it was then supposed to end up in Holland .

This sounded very, very, very interesting .

So, after receiving this

I sent a fax to General Tymoshenko.

My name is Bohdan Mizak from the Vienna Country Office.

I'm representing DEA here.

They didn't even know what DEA was at that point.

I explained that we are the premier agency for drug trafficking ,

worldwide, actually.

And we're here to help.

But everything was very serious.

Very reserved .

I believe neither party knew how to accept the other party.

The suspicion was there.

They were probably saying : "Well , here's this American ,

a representative of the evil empire,

with a diplomatic passport in ou r country,

and he speaks fluent Ukrainian ."

It could have been methamphetamine,

could have been amphetamine,

could have been a number of things.

Or it could have been perfume.

Which was claimed by the company in Holland .

If there was suspicion because of politics, because of the cold war,

we never discussed any of that, ever.

We have to develop a trust for each other.

And that trust is developed through communicating

with each other constantly

and cooperating with each other constantly.

That was a closed society,

so you knew nothing or very little of what was happening .

Insisted that they hard ly had any addicts whatsoever

It was a well-kept secret and it was on purpose.

They didn't want anybody else to know.