Members of Peru’s anti drug police, DIRANDRO, seized a planeload of cocaine and firearms in the southern Madre de Dios department. Officials have not released the amount of the cocaine seized or the name of the Colombian man arrested in the operation. But according to Interior Minister Luis Alva Castro, the operation was “a big blow to international drug trafficking.”
“It was an impeccable operation headed by DIRANDRO. We didn’t let him leave with the drugs. The plane is in Madre de Dios in perfect condition. The Colombian man will bring new light and new information,” said Alva in a Radio Programas radio interview.
International organized crime groups are known to work in Peru, which is the world’s second largest cocaine producer after Colombia. But according to the 2007 UN World Drug Report the trafficking of Peruvian coca paste and coca base is changing hands.
“While in the past, coca paste and coca base exports from Peru used to be in the hands of the Colombian drug cartels, a significant proportion of the Peruvian cocaine exports are now organized by criminal groups from Mexico.”
In May 2007, Peruvian police arrested two men who were allegedly working for Mexico’s Tijuana cartel. In November 2007, DIRANDRO arrested six Mexicans, two Colombians and a Peruvian who were allegedly smuggling cocaine to Europe.
