ANTI-DRUG CHIEF REASSIGNED AFTER SCANDAL

BOGOTA, Colombia -- The head of Colombia's anti-narcotics police was
reassigned after a "significant amount" of money earmarked to fight drugs
vanished. U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said about $2
million had disappeared.

Gen. Gustavo Socha was reassigned to a police unit that provides security
to dignitaries, said Gen. Ernesto Gilibert, chief of the Colombian National
Police.

He said Socha has not been found personally involved in any wrongdoing,
calling him "an honest man, a transparent man." But he said Socha had to go
to lend "transparency" to the investigation into the missing funds.

The U.S. Embassy said Thursday it had suspended some aid to the
counternarcotics police after discovering two months ago that a
"significant amount of money" was missing. An embassy official said about
20 members of the police are believed to have taken money "for personal ends."