THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 12, 1994 TAG: 9411120177
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA LENGTH: Short : 30 lines
U.S., Colombian and Ecuadorean naval forces are conducting joint exercises in anti-submarine warfare, shortly after the second discovery of a submarine believed used to smuggle cocaine.
U.S. forces have sent the Norfolk-based destroyer Stump; the submarine Seahorse, based in Charleston, S.C.; and three Coast Guard frigates to take part with Colombian and Ecuadorean warships in Operation Unitas XXXV, which began Friday in the Pacific off western Colombia, said a Colombian naval officer.
The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the operation ``has absolutely nothing to do with drug traffickers.'' But she acknowledged that anti-submarine techniques learned during the exercise could later be used against smuggling.
In the past three months, police have found two minisubmarines they suspect were used to smuggle cocaine from Colombia, the source of 80 percent of the world's supply of the drug. by CNB