Peru’s Armed Forces and National Police (PNP, in Spanish) have joined efforts to combat narcotics and terrorism.
The focus of the joint operations is the Apurímac, Ene, and Mantaro Rivers Valley (VRAEM, in Spanish), a region where about 70 percent of the local cocaine is produced.
On October 14, service members detained two narcotraffickers carrying 400 kilograms of drugs, two military rifles, a 9 mm pistol, and two portable communication devices in the town of Picha, Echarate district.
“This operation is the initial result of the Integrated Military Police Command’s first meeting in the VRAEM, held last weekend,” the Peruvian Defense and Interior ministries said in a joint statement.
During a visit to the VRAEM on October 9, Peruvian Minister of the Interior César Gentille announced the unification of all police intelligence components into a single “integrated nucleus” to optimize police and military efforts against narcotrafficking and terrorism.
“We must work in a synchronized and coordinated way to be more effective in our operations,” Minister Gentille told the press.
The PNP also seized supplies for the manufacture of cocaine. On October 7, for example, agents arrested two individuals who carried 7,110 kg of sulfuric acid in a vehicle, in Huarochirí province.
On October 4, the Armed Forces and the PNP carried out a joint operation in the vicinity of the Picha River basin, in La Convención province. “Law enforcement forces found 10 bags with about 420 kg of cocaine alkaloid,” the ministries of Defense and Interior indicated.
On September 30, authorities deployed a Combat Engineering Squad and a security patrol to the Alto Picha sector, in Megantoni district, La Convención province. On site, service members destroyed a 700-meter clandestine airstrip and 40 barrels of light aircraft fuel, the Andina news agency reported.
