WE JUST had a report in regard to these remarkable narcotics agents here, they are actually customs agents, I believe, working in the field of narcotics. We have all heard of the Ricord case, of Ricord, one of the big international smugglers, I understand.
What impressed me was the effect of his activities, what it really means in human, personal terms. For example, the number that was given to me was 15 tons of heroin that he had smuggled into the United States. That adds up to about 30,000 pounds. And I understand from one of the agents that each pound provides 37,000 doses or shots, or what have you.
So we have here, as a result of the efforts of these men and their colleagues in the Bureau of Customs, the apprehension of an individual who was the head of a heroin ring that brought in nine billion doses of heroin. And when I think of what one can do, or several can do, in destroying the life of a person, I would say these men have saved many, many lives.
I have noted with interest that the judge, when he pronounced sentence at the end of this trial, said that actually when you consider that figure of nine billion doses of heroin, that what these men have done has really affected the lives of more than those, for example, who lost their lives in Vietnam.
So, this battle is important and we are having these men here, not because of just their own individual bravery and their competence and the rest, but to pay our respects to the hundreds of agents in the customs office and in our other enforcement areas in the battle against narcotics.
And now, I think they are all glad to know we are going to have stiffer penalties. We are going to have mandatory sentences. This individual received 20 years and our concern would be what happens to him after 2 years with a probation officer who feels perhaps he has had a record of good conduct while in prison. Any individual of this type, it seems to me, has to have a mandatory prison sentence for a period of years, and I find no disagreement among the group here.
Thank you.
Note: The President spoke at 10:53 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White House where he was meeting with Vernon D. Acree, Commissioner of Customs, and Customs Agents Paul Boulad, Robert P. Nunnery, Albert W. Seeley, Richard J. Hopkins, and Gustave Fassler.
On the same day, the White House released a fact sheet on the Ricord case.
Joseph Auguste Ricord was arrested in Paraguay in March 1971 and was extradited to face trial in New York City on Federal charges of conspiring to smuggle narcotics. He was convicted on December 15, 1972.
Richard Nixon, Remarks During a Meeting With Customs Officials. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/256231
