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Wife of former FBI agent missing in Iran pleads for help

The wife of a former FBI agent who is missing in Iran pleaded for information on his whereabouts yesterday, more than a month after he disappeared on a resort island.

Robert Levinson disappeared on March 11 on the Iranian island of Kish, one of three Iranian free trade zones where Americans do not need a visa to enter. He was possibly conducting a private investigation into cigarette smuggling.

"I address this message to those in a position to help me locate my husband, Bob Levinson, or to those who may be able to help bring him home to be with his family. Since the day he went missing, I have not heard from my husband. I still don't know where he is or if he's OK," Christine Levinson said in a statement. "I need to hear from my husband, to hear his voice, to see his face, and to know that he is still alive."

The US, which has no diplomatic relations with Iran, has been working through neutral Swiss diplomats to locate Levinson, 59. US officials say he was in Iran on private business. A call to the US State Department was not immediately returned yesterday.

"There have been various reports in the media that my husband is being detained in Iran. I don't know if that is true or not," Christine Levinson said. "But I'm confused by those reports because there would be no reason for him to be detained."

The Financial Times reported last week that Levinson was likely being detained by Iranian authorities, based on an interview with a man who claims to be the last person to see Levinson.

Dawud Salahuddin, an American Islamic convert, told the newspaper Levinson had come to meet him on March 8 at a Kish hotel to get help with his investigation into cigarette smuggling as part of the former agent's work for a tobacco company.

Salahuddin said he was detained by authorities, questioned and later released. He said when he returned to his hotel room, Levinson was gone, and Iranian officials told him Levinson had flown to Dubai.

"I don't think he is missing, but don't want to point my finger at anyone. Some people know exactly where he is," Salahuddin said.

Salahuddin is wanted in the US for the 1980 murder of a former Iranian diplomat.

Levinson was an FBI agent in New York and Florida known for busting Italian and Russian mobsters. His work also helped bring down Colombia's Medellin drug cartel and Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who was convicted in Miami for protecting Colombian cocaine shipments through Panama in the 1980s.
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