COLOMBIA JETS DOWN DRUG-SUSPECT PLANE

BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombian air force fighter jets shot down a light
plane on a suspected drug-running mission over the country's
northernmost territory in the first such "hot pursuit" incident in
five years, authorities said yesterday.

An air force statement said bursts of automatic gunfire from A-37s
downed the single-engine, Venezuela-registered Cessna aircraft over
the desert of the Guajira Peninsula Tuesday night.

The plane, which had not requested permission to enter Colombia's
airspace, was fired upon after its pilot refused to make radio contact
or obey an order to make a forced landing, the air force said.