Police in Peru seize $20 million worth of Coke that went to Turkey

Law enforcement officials in Peru said this week they had seized more than two tons of cocaine bound for Turkey.

Reuters reports that the “drug spill occurred on Friday at a warehouse in Peru’s largest port, El Callao, just outside the capital Lima.”

“This is the first incident that we know of (where the cargo was in Peruvian ports and its final destination was Turkey. Usually we know of ports in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and France,” the El Callao police chief said , Colonel Luis Angel Bolanos, as quoted by Reuters.

According to Reuters, during a news conference on Monday, police “exhibited the cocaine, which had been attached to sheets of rubber to appear as hundreds of ceramic tiles in wooden crates in a shipping container.”

The news service reported that “Bolanos said the cocaine seized was valued at ‘at least $20 million.'”

“The Andean nation seized a record 86.4 tons of drugs and illicit substances last year, including 28 tons of cocaine hydrochloride, police data show,” according to Reuters. “Peru and neighboring Colombia are among the world’s largest producers of cocaine and the coca leaf from which it is made, according to the United Nations. Production in Peru is growing, especially along the border with Brazil in the Ucayali region, where the coca leaf harvest has increased nearly six-fold in two years to 10,229 hectares (25,276 acres) in 2021, according to Peruvian authorities.”

Last year the White House released a report on cocaine production in South America, including Peru.

“The United States recognizes the Peruvian government’s commitment to reducing coca cultivation and cocaine production. Estimated coca cultivation and cocaine production in Peru declined but remained high at 84,400 hectares and 785 tonnes, respectively. The current scale of coca cultivation underscores the importance of returning to pre-pandemic eradication levels while investing in a holistic approach aimed at providing safety, security and opportunity for rural Peruvians,” the White House said.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to continuing to work closely with our partners in South America to address our shared challenge of drug production, trafficking and use,” said Dr. Rahul Gupta, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. “As part of President Biden’s National Drug Control Strategy, we are pursuing policies that expand access to the continuum of drug use treatment, track drug traffickers and their profits, and also address the root causes of involvement in the illicit coca economy. growing areas such as poverty, insecurity and lack of access to services.”

Turkey, on the other hand, “has become a global trafficking hub for South American cocaine, according to organized crime experts, fueling rising demand for the drug in Eastern Europe and the Persian Gulf,” Vice reported last year.

“A two-part analysis by InSight Crime, an investigative organization released today and last week, shows that gangs in Turkey, a country notorious for playing a major role in heroin trafficking between Afghanistan and Europe, now have a keen interest in the cocaine trade .” According to Vice, which said Turkey’s increased involvement in the trade came “when South American cocaine producers needed a new route east for their product since so much of it was being confiscated to get to Western Europe.”

“Turkish gangs have been drawn to the cocaine business because of their maritime expertise, falling heroin profits due to falling wholesale prices, a growing demand for cocaine in undersupplied parts of Eastern Europe and the Middle East, and closer ties between Turkish criminals – including the far-right Gray Wolves – and Cartels in Latin America,” Vice reported. “As a result, Turkish smugglers have become key players, supplying South American cocaine to emerging markets in Russia, the Balkans and a new cocaine route across the desert through northern Iraq to the Persian Gulf, the investigation found.”

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