
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 25, 1995                   TAG: 9504250094
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-6   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

TECH PROFESSOR CHARGED WITH INTENT TO DISTRIBUTE VALIUM

A Virginia Tech associate professor has been charged with possessing Valium with intent to distribute after authorities said they intercepted more than 1,000 of the tablets that were being shipped from Jordan to a Blacksburg address.

Walid Abu-Sufah, 45, of Blacksburg, was arrested April 10. He is scheduled to appear in Montgomery County General District Court on May 11 for a hearing on the misdemeanor drug charge, as well as for a hearing on an accompanying traffic charge of driving on a suspended license.

Abu-Sufah, who teaches computer science and has been at Tech since 1988, was released on a $3,500 bond.

He was arrested by Doug Altizer, a Virginia State Police special agent who is assigned to the state police's Pharmaceutical Drug Diversion Unit.

According to a search warrant filed in the Montgomery County Clerk's Office, a package arrived from Amman, Jordan, at JFK International Airport in New York on March 28. No customs declaration was attached and U.S. Customs decided to examine the package.

A customs inspector found 1,250 tablets of Valium in the package, which was addressed to Abu-Sufah at a Blacksburg post office box, according to the search warrant.

The package was reconstructed - returning only a small amount of the Valium and equipping it with a tracking beeper - and delivered to the post office box by a postal employee earlier this month.

Abu-Sufah was charged after the beeper indicated the package had been received, removed from the box and opened.

Valium is a trademark name for a diazepam drug product developed by Roche Laboratories. It is generally prescribed for short-term relief of anxiety and as a muscle relaxant.

Possession of the drug with intent to distribute is a class 1 misdemeanor, meaning that anyone convicted of the charge could face a punishment of 12 months in jail and/or a $2,500 fine.

Dave Nutter, a Tech spokesman, said school officials are aware of the pending charge and would continue reviewing the facts of the case.

by CNB