News In Brief

Rampaging elephants aid Indonesian war on drugs

A herd of rampaging elephants gave unexpected help to a police drive to stamp out widespread drug farming in northern Sumatra, the official Antara news agency said Monday.

The wild elephants, which had strayed from a nearby reserve, ran amok through 25 acres of marijuana, forcing the growers to flee their flattened fields.

Police had been waging a long campaign against drug farming in northern Sumatra, which straddles the so-called ''hippie trail'' stretching from Thailand to Australia by way of Bali.