LIMA: Drug cartels in Peru and Bolivia, two of the world’s top producers of cocaine, are drooling over the bountiful market being served up next door by the World Cup in Brazil.
They are sending huge amounts of the drug to their giant South American neighbor, where the world’s premier sporting event starts Thursday.
“We have observed very intense drug trafficking activity as the World Cup approaches,” General Vicente Romero, director of Peru’s anti-drug agency, known as DIRANDRO, told AFP.
Since the start of the year there has been a huge increase in the number of so-called “drug flights” by small planes from Peru carrying cocaine to Bolivia. From there, it is transported over land to Brazil.
Secret landing strips sprout like mushrooms in the Peruvian valleys where coca leaves are produced. From there, planes carrying up to 300 kilos (660 pounds) of cocaine are taking off frequently, authorities say.
In the first five months of the year, Peruvian authorities staging commando-style raids have destroyed 72 such airstrips.
“Brazilian traffickers know that during the World Cup, controls are lax and they are preparing for a veritable festival of cocaine consumption,” said Jaime Antezana, an expert at the Catholic University of Peru.
– Brazil, champion… of consumption –
“Brazil is now the world’s second largest consumer of cocaine, but during the World Cup, it is expected to overtake the United States and become number one,” Antezana said.
Brazil has Amazon frontiers with Peru, Colombia and Bolivia that are virtually impossible to control. These are the world’s top three producers of coca leaves, the drug’s raw material, and cocaine itself.
Anti-narcotics forces have tried to deal a blow to drug gangs before the football tournament starts, seizing 570 kilos of cocaine destined for Brazilian cities hosting games.
In the Peruvian border region of Ucayali, 18 labs with a weekly output of 400 kilos of cocaine paste, a precursor of the white powder that people snort, have been destroyed recently.
As part of wide-ranging World Cup security measures, Brazil’s defense ministry last month launched an operation to try to keep cocaine out of the country.
Military forces were posted along 17,000 kilometers of borders, and some 40 tons of drugs destined for Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro were confiscated.
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