COLOMBIA POLICE MAKE RECORD 66-POUND HEROIN BUST

BOGOTA, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Colombian police seized 66 pounds (30 kg) of
high-grade heroin, worth between $2.5 million and $5.5 million wholesale in
the United States, in what it said was the "biggest heroin bust in the
history of Colombia's war on drugs."

A light aircraft was confiscated and its three occupants were arrested in
the operation along the remote Guajira peninsula on the Caribbean coast.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) estimates that up to 60
percent of the heroin sold in the United States is from Colombia and fetches
between $85,000 and $185,000 per 2.2 pounds (1 kg).

With Tuesday's haul, Colombian authorities have seized 836 pounds (380 kg)
of heroin this year, a 75 percent increase compared to 1997.

Colombia began to produce and export heroin from about 1991 drawing on help
from Afghan and Pakistani producers and traffickers, according to police
sources.

Officials estimate Colombia has some 12,000 acres (5,000 hectares) of
illegal opium poppy plantations located in central Tolima and Huila,
southwest Cauca and northern Cesar and Guajira provinces.

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst