DRUG PILOTS' PAY SOARING AS COLOMBIA BEARS DOWN

WASHINGTON - 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.