COLOMBIA SHUTS COCAINE COMPLEX WITH GUN BATTLE

Three hundred Colombian police officers have fought a day-long gun
battle in an effort to shut down a huge cocaine producing complex run
by illegal rightwing paramilitaries.

'This is the most serious offensive for many years against
paramilitary groups involved in drug trafficking,' the police chief,
General Jose Rosso Serrano, said of Wednesday's battle. 'We will not
shirk from attacking anyone - be they guerrillas or paramilitaries
who is involved in the drugs trade.'

The raid constitutes the first major undertaking by the state in
recent years to go after the paramilitaries - a commitment President
Andres Pastrana has made to advance peace negotiations with the
country's largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (Farc). It is also tacit acknowledgment that the
paramilitaries are as much involved, if not more, in the drugs trade
as the guerrillas.

The complex, deep in the jungle in the paramilitary stronghold of
Magdalena Medio province, included three processing laboratories and a
packing plant and was capable of producing eight tons of cocaine a
month. Police also found accommodation for 120 people, a ton of
cocaine and huge quantities of raw materials.

Police estimate the traffickers invested at least $5m (UKP3m) in the
complex, supporting fears that the paramilitaries and their allies
have essentially taken over where Pablo Escobar's Medellin cartel left
off in the early 90s.

Despite repeated claims that the paramilitaries are deeply involved in
both cocaine and heroin production, anti-narcotics policy at home and
in the US has long avoided the issue. The US gives significant aid -
UKP180m this year - and technical assistance to fight the war on drugs
in Colombia, but efforts have been directed almost exclusively at
eradicating coca cultivations in the guerrilla-controlled south.

With the Farc insisting that peace talks can move forward only if the
government shows results in its promised clampdown on paramilitary
groups, this week's raid marks a significant switch in the approach of
law enforcers.

'This is a serious setback to paramilitary groups involved in drug
trafficking, and it is only the first,' said the head of the
anti-narcotics division, Colonel Leonardo Gallego. 'My men will be
continuing operations to dismantle other paramilitary laboratories.'