Colombia rebels fire on antidrug chopper

BOGOTA (Reuter) Two antidrug police officers were injured Monday when
suspected leftist rebels shot at their helicopter as it sprayed an illicit
opium poppy plantation in southern Colombia, the authorities said.

The helicopter was hit more than 25 times by machine gun fire as it flew near
the town of Vegalarga in Huila province, but made it safely back to base,
said Col. Leonardo Gallego, head of the antinarcotics division of the
National Police.

``The crew of this helicopter have good training and broad experience. They
reacted well to this attack,'' Gallego said. ''These are very difficult
operations, but we have managed to stem the spread of these illicit
plantations in this area,'' he added.

He blamed the attack on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC),
the country's largest and oldest guerrilla army which the government accuses
of protecting clandestine narcotics crops and of trafficking drugs.

Colombia has edged out southeast Asia's Golden Triangle to become the largest
supplier of highgrade heroin to the United States according to U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration figures.

Last year the Colombian authorities fumigated more than 9,885 acres of
poppies, used for heroin production , and 44,500 acres of coca leaf, the raw
material for cocaine. The country's U.S.backed drug crop eradication program
is the most ambitious in Latin America.