BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A drug fumigation plane crashed in northeastern Colombia Friday after apparently coming under fire, killing the pilot, police said.
The crash happened near the town of Tarra, 470 kilometers (290 miles) northeast of Bogota, while it was fumigating crops of coca, the main ingredient in cocaine, said Col. Henry Gamboa, head of the eradication unit of the Colombian Counter narcotics Police.
The United States funds the aerial fumigation of coca in Colombia, the world’s main source of cocaine, and some of the pilots are Americans. The dead pilot’s nationality was unknown.
An official at the U.S. Embassy said he was unaware of the report of the crash and had no further information.
Leftist rebels who control a large share of cocaine production in Colombia have shot at the fumigation planes in the past. Several pilots have been killed.
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