U.S.: FAR MORE COLOMBIAN DRUG CROPS THAN THOUGHT

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - With Washington set to deepen its involvement in
Colombia's anti-drug efforts, a U.S. Embassy official said Wednesday that
there are far more cocaine- and heroin-producing crops growing here than
previously believed.

Washington is considering giving more aid to Colombia, atop a $1.3 billion
existing package aimed against leftist rebels and rival right- wing
paramilitaries who tax drug crops that are exported to the United States
and beyond.

The most recent U.S. estimate, conducted at the end of last year, showed
336,400 acres of coca - the prime ingredient of cocaine - were being
cultivated. In addition, Colombian police say 15,300 acres were being used
to grow poppy, from which heroin is made.

But now officials say they've found drug crops in areas of Colombia where
none was believed to have existed before.

"We've underestimated the coca in Colombia. Everywhere we look there is
more coca than we expected," a U.S. Embassy official told a small group of
American journalists on condition of anonymity.

It is unclear by how much the estimates may be short. Of the heroin crops,
the official said: "There is more out there than we can find right now."
The official said a very pure grade of Colombian heroin has been arriving
in the United States, particularly New York and Philadelphia.

The belief that there are more drug crops than previously estimated means
more work for U.S.-trained Colombian army troops and American crop-duster
pilots contracted by the State Department.

The U.S. Embassy official said the pace of fumigation will pick up "very
dramatically" and that a leveling off of drug cultivation in Colombia can
be expected in 18 months.

The anti-drug offensive is aimed primarily at cutting into the main source
of revenue of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the
paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia.

Washington made a clear sign Tuesday that U.S. participation will continue
when the House approved $676 million to fight drugs and advance economic
and political stability in Colombia and in its neighboring countries.

Critics of Washington's aid say the United States is being sucked into
another war, as in Vietnam or El Salvador.

The first of dozens of new combat helicopters provided under the aid
package will be arriving on Saturday from the United States, the U.S.
Embassy said. Fourteen more U.S. crop dusters will also be arriving
starting in September, which will more than double the current fleet in
Colombia by next March.