DRUG LORDS PAY PILOTS TOP DOLLAR

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Colombian military aircraft have had increasing
success in forcing down flights carrying U.S.-bound narcotics,
prompting drug kingpins to pay their pilots up to $100,000 per trip,
Colombia's armed forces chief said Friday.

Gen. Fernando Tapias told a group of American reporters that as an
additional incentive, the pilots can receive a bonus of 20 to 30
percent of the value of the illicit cargo they are delivering.

The premium pay commanded by the pilots also reflects their ability to
fly at night, thus making detection more difficult, and to land at
improvised airstrips, he said. He added that counter-drug flights have
forced down 47 narcotics flights over the past year.

Tapias was joined by top officers of Colombia's military
establishment, along with Defense Minister Luis Fernando Ramirez and
Police Chief Rosso Jose Serrano. They are here to talk with
administration officials and members of Congress about Colombia's new
plan to fight drug traffickers, part of a broader strategy to confront
the country's powerful guerrilla insurgency and its shrinking economy.

The Clinton administration has praised the plan but has yet to signal
how much financial support it will offer. The plan calls for outlays
of $7.5 billion over three years, of which $3.5 billion would come
from outside sources.

Serrano and his colleagues were generally optimistic about chances for
success.

``We are winning the (drug) war,'' he said. ``With the help of other
countries, we can end it.''

He said Belgium and other countries must do more to stop the export of
precursor chemicals that are needed to refine coca leaves into
cocaine. The outside world also must do more to curb money laundering
by cocaine cartels, he said.

Serrano acknowledged that coca cultivation in Colombia is increasing
despite extensive eradication efforts. The increase reflects greater
demand for cocaine from European countries, he said.