World Bulletin / News Desk

Police are using Black Hawk helicopters to scour the green banana fields of northern Colombia in a newly intensified search for the country's most-wanted drug boss.

With peace initiatives under way between the government and rebel groups, authorities are fighting on another front to stabilize the country after decades of violence: the gangs that make Colombia the world's biggest source of cocaine.

"We have him within striking distance," says Jose Angel Mendoza, head of the anti-narcotics police division.

"He has had to run for it at the last second, more than once."