Throughout 2020, the Peruvian Ministry of the Interior’s Commission for the Destruction of Drugs Seized Due to Illicit Drug Trafficking destroyed more than 42 tons of cocaine, marijuana, and other illegal substances, the Ministry of the Interior said in a press release on January 2.
“Among the drugs destroyed, there are 16,061,365 kilograms of cocaine base paste, 13,314,976 kg of cocaine hydrochloride, 13,112,965 kg of marijuana, and 85 kg of opium latex, amphetamine derivatives, and ecstasy,” the Ministry of the Interior said.
Authorities also dismantled 36 criminal narcotrafficking gangs and eradicated more than 6,000 hectares of illegal coca crops in 2020, especially in the Apurímac, Ene, and Mantaro Rivers Valley.
Upon initiating its activities in 2021, the Peruvian National Police (PNP, in Spanish) dismantled several narcotrafficking gangs throughout the country.
On January 5, agents arrested two persons with more than 40 kg of cocaine hidden inside a vehicle, in Leoncio Prado province.
On January 12, in a joint effort with the Peruvian Office of the Attorney General, agents destroyed an improvised cocaine lab in San Gabán district.
The operations also included the Port of Callao, where agents found more than 67 kg of cocaine hydrochloride on January 14. “[The cocaine bricks] were packed in four suitcases destined for abroad,” the PNP reported.
In another operation, on January 20, police personnel arrested a person who was transporting more than 200 kg of cannabis sativa in a vehicle, in Chucuito province, Puno department.
That same day, the PNP’s Anti-Drug Directorate arrested a man in Puno who was carrying almost 210 kg of marijuana, hidden under the seats of a vehicle.
According to the PNP, the individual belonged to an organization that was planning to store and sell the shipment of Colombian origin.
“[The drug] was likely bound for the city of Arequipa, to then be sent abroad through the border area between Peru and Bolivia,” the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio reported.
