Prisoner 'gagged'

(First Edition)

WASHINGTON (Reuter) - Senator Carl Levin said he believed a prisoner who claims to have sold drugs to Vice-President Dan Quayle two decades ago, was silenced by the US government in 1988 for political reasons. Senator Levin, a Democrat, said he was convinced the Bureau of Prisons cancelled a news conference by Brett Kimberlin and put him in detention to keep him from making the allegations before the last presidential election. The senator has asked the Justice Department to investigate. Mr Quayle denies buying drugs.