COLOMBIA PACTS ON DRUG TRADE

THE Australian Federal Police will sign three law-enforcement agreements
with Colombia today in a bid to stifle the flow of illegal drugs from South
and Central America.

AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty will formalise agreements with the Colombian
National Police, Department of Administrative Security and Colombian
Attorney-General.

The deals, coming two years after the AFP opened an office in the Colombian
capital of Bogota, will see the countries share intelligence and expertise
in the battle against international drug trafficking.

About half of the 98kg of cocaine seized at Australian borders in 2002-03
came directly from South or Central America.

Three Colombians were charged over a record haul of nearly one tonne of
cocaine szied by AFP officers near Denham in 2001.

Despite a 37 per cent decline in coca cultivation in Colombia since 2000,
it still produces about 73 per cent of the world's cocaine.