Foncodes invests $4.2 million in VRAE development projects in 2009

Peru’s state development cooperation fund, Foncodes, said Tuesday it invested more than 12 million soles, about $4.2 million dollars, last year in 55 social projects located in the area that covers the Apurímac and Ene river valley’s, known as the VRAE. The area includes 31 districts in the departments of Ayacucho, Junin, Huancavelica and Cusco, [...]

Devida: 80 percent of Peru-produced drugs are shipped abroad via its seaports

Approximately 80 percent of drugs produced in Peru are shipped abroad via the Andean country’s Chimbote, Salaverry and Paita ports, said Rómulo Pizarro, President of Peru’s National Commission for the Development of Life without Drugs, or Devida. According to Pizarro, drug traffickers have turned to the country’s seaports because security and drug seizures have increased [...]

Move to make limited drug possession illegal takes root

Peru Interior Minister Octavio Salazar Miranda announced Thursday that he is drafting a bill which aims to nullify the Peruvian Penal Code’s provision barring the prosecution of simple drug use or possession. By allowing Peruvians to posses or use a minimal quantity of drugs, we implicitly encourage the micro-commercialization of drugs in our society, argued [...]

Peru police bag haul of cocaine in Puno, drugs were camouflaged in coffee shipment

Peru police seized over 19 kilos of high-quality cocaine stashed among a truckload of coffee bags in the southern highland department of Puno, state news agency Andina reported Friday. Police arrested Cristóbal Coaquira Quispe, 33, Juan Mamani Condori, 42, and Regina Quispe Coaquira, 30. The three individuals were travelling with a 9-year child aboard a [...]

Dutch woman attempting to smuggle 12 kilos of cocaine arrested in Peru’s Jorge Chavez International Airport

A 38-year old Dutch woman was arrested in Peru’s Jorge Chavez International Airport on Thursday, after officials found 12 kilos of cocaine allegedly tucked away in her luggage, state news agency Andina reported. Alexandra de Kreek was first spotted by behavior-detection officers. Pioneered by Israeli airport security, behavior detection involves picking apparently suspicious people out [...]

Giant coca paste maceration pit smashed by police in jungle Department of Loreto

A giant coca paste maceration pit — measuring more than 25 meters in length — was found in Peru’s Amazon Department of Loreto and destroyed by police, daily El Comercio reported Monday. As part of “Operation Piranha,” 35 anti-drug police left Iquitos for the isolated jungle town of San Isidro late Thursday night. Because of [...]

Peru national police crack down on Mexican travelers to curb drug trafficking

Peru is closely monitoring Mexican tourists and businessmen on arrival to the Andean country as part of a government operative to fight crimes related to drug trafficking, reported daily La Republica Monday. “(Mexico and Peru) have common ties, many things in common, such as the language, the history,” said the Director General of Peru’s Immigration [...]