U.S. HELPED MANHUNT OF DRUG LORD, PAPER SAYS

PHILADELPHIA -- U.S. experts played an extensive role in funding and
guiding the Colombian authorities who hunted down and killed cocaine lord
Pablo Escobar, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The newspaper also said the Colombian police unit, called the Search Bloc,
that worked with the Americans in the manhunt had links with vigilantes who
assassinated 300 of Escobar's associates and relatives in the Medellin drug
cartel.

"The United States continued to supply intelligence, training and planning
to the Search Bloc even as the assassinations continued," the Inquirer said
in the first story of a series gleaned from a two-year investigation. The
paper made a copy of the initial story, which will be published in today's
editions, available to The Associated Press.

A U.S. official involved in the operation, then-Ambassador Morris D. Busby,
is quoted in the article as saying he never found the allegations of links
with vigilantes convincing, however.

American involvement in the Escobar operation was far more extensive than
previously acknowledged, the Inquirer said. It included millions of dollars
and the use of elite U.S. units, such as the Army's Delta Force and the
Navy's SEALs, as well as the CIA, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and
the National Security Agency, the newspaper said.

U.S. officials have previously acknowledged training the Search Bloc.

Escobar's killing in December 1993 ended a long terror campaign that shook
Colombia to its core. The drug lord's gang set off bombs, downed an
airliner and killed dozens of police officers and officials to try to
coerce the government into not extraditing drug suspects to the United States.

While hailed as a big drug-war victory at the time, the cocaine king's
death failed to stem the flow of cocaine from Colombia to the United States
and Europe. It was estimated last year at 500 tons.

Washington is embarking on a major new commitment to fight cocaine
trafficking in the South American country, providing $1.3 billion for
helicopters and training for Colombian anti-narcotics troops.

According to the Inquirer report, Busby and DEA officials lobbied for
continued aid and support for the Escobar manhunt despite reports of Search
Bloc cooperation with the vigilantes known as Los Pepes -- People
Persecuted by Pablo Escobar.

Busby, who along with CIA station chief Bill Wagner supervised the U.S.
activities, is quoted as saying he did not find those allegations convincing.

If he had, "it would have been a show-stopper," Busby is quoted as saying.
"We would have pulled everybody out of the country."