OFFICERS DIG FOR COLOMBIA DRUG TREASURE

BOGOTA -- Colombian police colonel, a prison officer and 12 others have
been arrested in the capital, Bogota, digging for treasure.

But they were not looking for the fabled riches of El Dorado which drew the
Spanish conquistadores.

Instead, they sought the buried loot of one of the drug barons of the
Medellin cartels, who was killed by security forces in 1989.

There has long been a myth that Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, better known by
his alias, "The Mexican", had buried plastic drums of treasure on his
various properties around the country in case of emergency.

In the end they did him little good, as the drug baron died, as did his
boss Pablo Escobar, in a hail of bullets.

The myth was fed after soldiers found several such plastic drums on one of
Gacha's estates in the central province of Cundinamarca in 1990.

They were filled with bundles of $100 bills and gold ingots totalling $19m.

Police 'Surprised'

After complaints of noise by neighbours living beside Gacha's now-abandoned
luxury mansion in Bogota, police found a group of 14 people excavating six
different tunnels around the property.

The authorities were surprised to find a police colonel directing the
search, along with a prison officer.

The excavations have been going on for two months and police found one of
the tunnels was more than 15 metres deep, with lighting and an airflow system.

It is clear that the gang were working on specific information that a
substantial fortune lay buried on the property - they had invested almost
$50,000 in the search.

It is unlikely they will be the last to chase the myth of the drug lord's
buried millions.