BRAZIL FINDS COCA FIELDS

Army Surprised by Discovery

Lab Equipped to Make Leaves into Cocaine Also Found in the Amazon

SAO PAULO, Brazil -- The army said Sunday it
has discovered the first known coca plantations in Brazil's Amazon,
along with a fully equipped laboratory to manufacture cocaine. The
army used helicopters and small boats to reach the plantations and the
lab near the northwestern city of Tabatinga, close to the border with
cocaine-producing nations Peru and Colombia, army Lt. Col. Antonio
Elcio Franco Filho said.

"It is the first time these plantations have been found in Brazil," he
said. The discovery surprised authorities and prompted a search for
similar fields in the region.

"This is new in Brazil and it's a concern," Walter Maierovitch, an
organized-crime expert who once headed Brazil's anti-drug efforts,
told the government's Agencia Brasil news service. "It could mean a
change in the geo-strategy of some Colombian cartels."

The coca leaf -- the key ingredient in cocaine -- is usually grown in
mountainous regions of Andean countries. The climate in the Amazon was
not believed to favor coca plantations, according to Maierovitch. "We
believe they are using a transgenic or an adaptation of the leaf used
in the Andean region," Filho said. "They are probably trying to find
new locations to grow this, so we need to stay alert."

He added that coca fields in the Amazon could increase if drug leaders
find them lucrative.

"Authorities need to crack down on them immediately," Filho said. "If
we don't do anything it might even become a source of deforestation."
Authorities were led to the coca fields by satellite images of huge
clearings in the jungle.

Agencia Brasil said the coca, which was destroyed, was almost ready to
be harvested, and the lab was equipped to transform the leaves into
cocaine. There were no arrests.