US aid worker Alan Gross says he made little effort to hide work in Cuba that led to prison

WASHINGTON – The American aid worker imprisoned for five years in Cuba says he had no trouble bringing sophisticated communications gear into the country.

Alan Gross said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes" that he made little attempt to hide his work setting up Internet connections. He says he knew the work was dangerous but assumed that he wasn't viewed as a threat because he was allowed to come and go four times.

Gross was a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development. He maintains that he went to Cuba to set up Internet access for the communist island's small Jewish community. He was accused of spying and imprisoned for five years before the U.S. and Cuba renewed diplomatic relations late last year.