COLOMBIAN COCAINE WAR SHIFTS TO MADRID

MADRID, Spain -- Spain has called in Colombian police officers to help curb
an outbreak of violence in Madrid after seven people were killed in eight
days in street shoot-outs and revenge attacks among international drug
traffickers.

The Colombian police, hardened by years of war between cocaine cartels in
their country, were drafted in after the latest gun battle, which saw three
people killed and one injured last week.

All the victims were young Colombian men. One of them, a 25-year-old from
the cocaine capital of Medellin, had been in Spain for only two weeks.

Police said they believed the battle was between two gangs of Colombians
who were fighting for control of a share of the drug trade in Madrid.

The two groups had met for talks in a telephone bureau when they started
arguing and threatening each other. "They were running down either side of
the street, taking shots at one another across the traffic," said a
neighbour who saw one of the victims gunned down. "It sounded like the wild
west," said another.

The incident occurred only a week after another three Colombians were
killed in a Madrid apartment. The victims had all been shot once in the
head, in what appeared to have been a cold-blooded, professional execution.

Seven other Colombians have been murdered so far this year in the Spanish
capital, leading to concern that the wars fought so ruthlessly in Medellin,
Bogota, and Cali have now come to Madrid. Other cities, such as Barcelona,
have also had an increase in the number of Colombians murdered.

"The Colombian criminals attach little value to life, and bring their
attitudes with them," Juan Cotino, Spain's director general of police,
said. "They have money, false documents and extremely cold blood," a police
source added.

The killings have led to calls for stricter controls on Colombians entering
Spain. They coincide with a sharp rise in the number of legal Colombian
immigrants who have come to Spain looking for work. There are an estimated
60,000 Colombians here.

Spain has long been seen as the main entry point for cocaine in Europe. All
the other countries in Europe's Schengen zone - states that abolished
border controls - require Colombians to obtain visas. But Spain has refused
to apply similar measures. However, Spanish officials expect visa
restrictions to be introduced soon.