John delorean arrested for cocaine possession, John Z. DeLorean, the chairman of the DeLorean Motor Company, was arrested here today and charged with possession of more than 59 pounds of cocaine.
Officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Mr. DeLorean was the ''financier'' of a scheme to sell 220 pounds of cocaine, worth an estimated $24 million, in an effort to shore up his financially troubled automobile company.
Mr. DeLorean's arrest came only hours after the British Government announced that it would permanently close his company's operation in Northern Ireland. (Page D11.)
Two Others Arrested
Mr. DeLorean, 57 years old, was arrested at about 3 P.M. by undercover agents of the F.B.I. and the Drug Enforcement Administration at a hotel near Los Angeles International Airport, shortly after he arrived on a flight from New York.
Two other men were charged in the scheme and were arrested in the Los Angeles area Monday night. They are William Morgan Hetrick, 50, of Mojave, Calif., and Stephen Lee Arrington, 34, of San Diego.
Richard T. Bretzing, special agent in charge of the F.B.I. office in Los Angeles, said the 59 pounds of cocaine, worth $6.5 million by F.B.I. estimates, were part of a scheme to deal 220 pounds of the drug, but that the rest of the transaction did not go through. Was Carrying Cocaine
The Federal officials revealed only a sketchy outline of the events leading to the arrests. They said Mr. DeLorean was arrested as he met with Federal undercover narcotics agents near the airport to conclude several months of negotiations for the transfer of the drugs.
Ted Hunter, chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Los Angeles, said Mr. DeLorean had ''several kilos'' of cocaine on his person at the time of his arrest. A kilo is 2.2 pounds.
Mr. Hunter said the auto executive did not bring the drugs with him from New York and that the quantity he had with him was part of the 59 pounds that were seized tonight.
Mr. Bretzing said Mr. DeLorean's involvement in the drug operation stemmed directly from the financial difficulties of DeLorean Motors, the company Mr. DeLorean founded after a long career as a top executive of the General Motors Corporation. 'Quick Return on Investment'
''He expressed an interest in financing some operation that would return quickly on his investment,'' Mr. Bretzing said. A spokesman for the F.B.I. declined to comment on whether Mr. DeLorean's company, or the sleek, gull-wing sports cars that it makes, were involved in the narcotics transaction. A law enforcement source in Washington said Mr. DeLorean had put up 40 of his $25,000 sports cars as collateral in his financing of the deal.
It was left unclear how the cache of cocaine was supposed to have come into the DeLorean organization's hands. The Federal officials said the drugs originated in Colombia. Mr. Bretzing suggested that there was a link with organized crime, but he declined to elaborate.
Mr. Hetrick is the owner of Morgan Aviation, an aircraft service company based in Mojave, Calif. Mr. Arrington was identified as his associate.
All three were charged with possession of cocaine and conspiracy to distribute it. Mr. DeLorean was held in custody and is to be arraigned Wednesday by a Federal magistrate in Los Angeles. The drug offenses carry maximum penalties of 15 years in prison and a $25,000 fine. I.R.S. Seizes Property
The officials said the cocaine was seized near Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles Monday night at the time of Mr. Arrington's arrest. They said Mr. Hetrick was picked up a few hours later on a street in Hollywood.
Several million dollars' worth of property belonging to Mr. Hetrick was seized today in other parts of the country as the Internal Revenue Service pursued an investigation of the business and property holdings of both Mr. DeLorean and Mr. Hetrick.
Revenue agents seized five airplanes, a $1 million I.B.M. computer and two pleasure boats in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., according to an I.R.S. official, Philip Xanthos. It was not disclosed whether investigators had linked the vessels to the transportation of the seized drugs.
