BULGARIA OFFERS AIR BASE FOR U.S. USE IN DRUG SURVEILLANCE

WASHINGTON--Bulgaria has offered to provide a base for U.S.-operated
unmanned surveillance aircraft to spot drug-running flights across a
prime smuggling route between heroin-producing areas of Central Asia and
Europe, Prime Minister Ivan Kostov said Wednesday.

Wrapping up an official visit to Washington, Kostov said in an interview
that his government last year intercepted more than 2 tons of
heroin--about one-fifth of the total seized worldwide. But he said he is
asking for additional intelligence support from the United States to
help Bulgaria do even more.

"We expect to open a base for unmanned surveillance aircraft in
Bulgaria," he said. "We want broader support and exchange of
information" from the United States.

Earlier this month, the Pentagon began flying unmanned drones over
Macedonia and southern Serbia to collect intelligence for the NATO-led
force in Kosovo, a province of the main Yugoslav republic of Serbia. The
international force is trying to dampen an upsurge of ethnic violence in
Macedonia.

A Pentagon official said the primary purpose of the flights is to
monitor the movement of guerrilla forces, but they also can provide
intelligence about drug smuggling.

Kostov said his objective in inviting the United States to use Bulgaria
as a base is to crack down on drug running. If the Pentagon agrees, the
unmanned aircraft would serve a purpose similar to that of the
CIA-operated surveillance plane that was involved in last week's fatal
accident in Peru. An American missionary and her daughter were killed
when their civilian plane was shot down by the Peruvian air force on the
mistaken assumption it was carrying illegal drugs.

According to the most recent State Department report on the
international narcotics trade, Bulgaria is "an important transit route
between Turkey and Western Europe for Southwest Asian heroin and
Southeast Asian marijuana." Although very little of the narcotics
crossing Bulgaria reaches America, the report said, it "remains a
country of concern to the United States."

The department said drug seizures last year in Bulgaria "are comparable
to those in the rest of Europe combined and represent a major increase
over previous years."

The report praised Kostov's government for close and effective
cooperation with U.S. and European law enforcement agencies. It said
Bulgaria had made substantial strides toward curtailing government
corruption.

Kostov said Bulgaria now has "the highest walls to the traffic of
heroin" anywhere in Europe. Nevertheless, he said, experts on narcotics
traffic in the country estimate that for every 2.2 pounds of drugs that
are seized another 2.2 pounds still get through.

As a reward for its enhanced border control, Kostov said, Bulgarians can
now travel to nearly all European Union countries without a visa.

"This is a major achievement for Bulgarian foreign policy," he said.

Kostov said his talks with President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney
and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell addressed the overall situation
in the Balkans and Bulgaria's application to join the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization.

He said he emphasized the importance of Washington's continued
engagement in the Balkans but pointed out that the United States does
not have to solve all of the region's problems. Last year, Bush
indicated that he wanted to pull back from the Balkans, leaving the
matter in the hands of the European Union. But he has not moved in that
direction since taking office.