Giant Coca Plants Found in Colombia

Giant coca plants have been found in Colombia and are being studied by scientists amid reports that drug traffickers are trying to develop genetically modified cocaine bushes.

But an expert said yesterday that the supersized coca plants were probably due to aggressive fertilisation or natural mutations, and that there was no evidence that drug lords had managed to genetically modify the cocaine-producing bushes.

Camilo Uribe, a toxicologist who has studied the large plants for anti-drug police, said that while genetic modification was "technically viable" there was no evidence that the larger plants were a result of scientific manipulation.

"I have not heard of any study that proves genetic modification. It could just be excess fertiliser or some natural mutation."

Dr Uribe added that during overflights of coca plantations in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta on Colombia's northern coast, pilots had spotted sporadic bushes as high as 10 metres (33ft). Normal plants reach three metres.

"But these taller plants are not on industrial-sized plantations. One would think that if they had discovered this 'supercoca' the coca-growing areas would be covered in it," he said.