On February 5, the Peruvian National Police (PNP, in Spanish) seized nearly 10,000 kilograms of chemical precursors used for cocaine production, in a clandestine lab in Cusco department.
The lab operated in a house in the Pichari district, in the coca-producing valley of the Apurímac, Ene, and Mantaro rivers.
“Three individuals were caught in the act, inside a rustic laboratory,” the PNP reported in a press release.
On site, agents found sulfuric acid, sodium bisulfate, caustic soda, and ammonium nitrate, among other substances used to produce the cocaine alkaloid, the Peruvian website Jornada reported.
The PNP Personnel also found a shotgun with 23 rounds of ammunition, a scale, a hand mill, a hydraulic jack, a stove, and gas cylinders. Agents destroyed all the materials.
Authorities carried out the operation as part of Plan Strength 2021 (Plan Fortaleza), which is the result of collaboration efforts between the PNP, local governments, and the National Superintendence for the Control of Security Services, Arms, Ammunition, and Explosives for Civil Use.
On February 3, in another operation of Plan Strength 2021, PNP agents seized 50 packages with more than 100 kg of marijuana in the Mariano Damaso Beraún district, Huánuco department. “Two individuals were detained,” the PNP reported.
That same day, agents intercepted a transport company truck that was carrying 21 kg of marijuana, bound for Lima. The vehicle, driving on Los Libertadores street, in the Huancano district, was carrying the drug hidden in the body of the vehicle.
On February 2, the police force seized 497 brick-type packages of cocaine, which weight had yet to be reported. “The packages were found inside two containers. The drug was bound for Guatemala and Mexico,” the PNP reported.
