Police prevent $1.6 billion of cocaine trafficked abroad in first months of 2008

Interior Minister Luis Alva Castro announced yesterday that Peruvian police have seized 5.5 tons and prevented another 14.5 tons of cocaine from being trafficked abroad with a street value at some $1.6 billion since the beginning of 2008. Alva Castro said the 5.5 tons of cocaine were seized from various international crime organizations, daily La [...]

SIE chief arrested for 1996 kidnapping and murder

The former head of the Army’s Intelligence Service, SIE, was arrested last Thursday for the 1996 murder of a SIE agent who was suspected of providing information to the press. Col. Carlos Edmundo Sánchez Noriega led the SIE from 1996 to 1997 and is accused of authorizing the murder of 28-year-old Mariela Barreto as part [...]

Cousin of key drug trafficking witness in Zevallos trial brutally murdered

The cousin of a key witness against Peru’s jailed cocaine kingpin Fernando Zevallos has been identified as one of two men found butchered in a dump close to Lima’s northern fringes. Óscar Benites, a jailed former drug trafficker for Zevallos turned U.S. DEA informant, told police his cousin’s murder was likely ordered by Zevallos or [...]

Controversy over education law intensifies

Controversy over a new law prohibiting public schools from hiring teachers who did not finish in the top third of their class during their studies has intensified, with Peru’s Education Minister threatening criminal charges against many of the country’s regional presidents who say the law is unconstitutional and discriminatory. In an attempt to improve Peru’s [...]

Judge rejects prosecutor’s appeal to avoid return to alledgedly dangerous post

A state prosecutor fighting reassignment to a jungle post for fear of reprisals from one of Peru’s most notorious drug barons has suffered another legal setback. Judge Teresa Jara García rejected a habeas corpus appeal by prosecutor Luz Loayza against Attorney General Adelaida Bolívar and members of Supreme Court of Prosecutors, according to daily El [...]