http://www.boston.com/dailynews/148/world/Drug_flights_up_since_downing_:.shtml

Drug flights up since downing of missionary plane, Colombia says

By Associated Press, 5/28/2001 13:21

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) Drug-smuggling flights have multiplied since the United States stopped sharing radar data over the accidental downing of a missionary plane in Peru, Colombia's air force commander said.

Washington suspended the sharing of such information with Peru and Colombia after a Peruvian warplane guided by a U.S. intelligence flight attacked the plane on April 20 over the Amazon, killing missionary Veronica Bowers and her 7-month-old daughter.

Under the anti-drug program, U.S. AWACS surveillance planes fly over drug-producing regions. When a radar plane detects a suspicious flight, it radios for a smaller U.S. plane that can fly low and watch the target.

Colombian Air Force Gen. Hector Fabio Velasco told reporters last week that the number of drug flights had increased as a result of the suspension.

He said that during the first half of last week alone, three planes loaded with cocaine had been intercepted over Meta state, in central Colombia, and that one of the pilots had dumped his load into the jungle before being forced to land.

Velasco said that in the absence of radar intelligence from the U.S. planes, the Colombian air force is intensifying cooperation with the air forces of Brazil and Venezuela, where many of the drug planes take off.

-- Anonymous, May 29, 2001