CIA dope tie in Australia charged

The opposition Labor Party produced documents alleging heroin dealing links between the collapsed Nugan Hand Merchant Bank and the US Central Intelligence Agency.

The bank went into liquidation two years ago after its Australian cofounder, Frank Nugan, was found shot to death. An inquest concluded he committed suicide. His American partner, Michael Hand, disappeared and is believed to have fled Australia.

Labor Party leaders displayed police files alleging the bank was linked with a drug syndicate that exported $3.4 million in heroin from Bangkok, Thailand, before June 1976.

The documents quoted an informant as saying the drug ring was ''bigger than anything you have ever seen in the heroin game,'' and was ''part of an American security organization.'' Another informant alleged that a principal official of the bank was ''still affiliated with the CIA.''

The affairs of the Nugan Hand group are under investigation by official liquidators.