FBI CARRIES OUT RAID AT UNION HEADQUARTERS

Law enforcement officials are being tight-lipped about the Federal Bureau of Investigation's search of a local union headquarters late last week.

On Friday, FBI agents, in cooperation with the Labor Racketeering division of the U.S. Department of Labor and local law enforcement agencies, executed a federal search warrant at the headquarters of the Craftsman Independent Union, 2709 Bloomfield Road.

Michael Roman, an FBI spokesman in St. Louis, said all his agency will confirm at this point is there was a search warrant executed and some items were seized from the building.

"At this point, we are not prepared to say what we were looking for or what we expected to find within the files of the union," Roman said.

Larry Ferrell, assistant U.S. Attorney in Cape Girardeau, said that the search warrant would have been sealed because of the nature of the warrant and because no arrests had been made at this point.

Roman said that if a warrant is issued for the arrest of anyone involved with the CIU, then more details of the search warrant and the case will be made public.

Officials at the CIU could not be reached for comment Wednesday.