Peru destroys forest runways in bid to halt cocaine smuggling

Peru destroyed more than 37 makeshift runways in the Amazon this week, part of bid to stop a growing number of small planes from smuggling cocaine out of the world's top producer, military officials said.

Security forces plan to wipe out 58 so-called narco runways by Monday - a record number in such a short period of time.

The runways, carved into remote corners of the rainforest, help move tens of tonnes of cocaine out of Peru every year.

Most of the cocaine cargo flown from Peru go to Bolivia before ending up in Brazil, the world’s second biggest cocaine consumer after the United States, as well as to Europe and Asia.

The amount of cocaine smuggled out of Peru by small aircraft has spiked in the past year and is now moving a large part of the illicit drug, according to Peru and the United States.

Between 150 and 180 tonnes of cocaine were moved out of Peru by small aircraft last year, according to an estimate by Washington.

In the VRAEM, the lawless jungle region where most of Peru’s coca is grown, a special forces unit blew up several runaways on Thursday with bundles of dynamite, leaving behind 30m wide holes that officials hope will make future landings impossible.

The runways, which can stretch 600m long and sometimes feature drainage systems, are built by villagers who rent them to traffickers for $8,000 to $10,000 per use, according to Peru’s police.

Before this week’s operation, Peru had destroyed 60 runways used for smuggling this year, deputy defence minister Ivan Vega Vega said, adding that security forces must make sure that the same runways are not rebuilt.

“We might destroy the runways, but locals financed by drug traffickers will come to put them together again so the flights continue,” he added.

Peruvian president Ollanta Humala said in July that he wanted to start a program of intercepting aircraft suspected of smuggling drugs. A similar policy helped curb drug trafficking by air in the past but was abandoned in 2001 when Peru accidentally shot down an airplane carrying missionaries, killing a US citizen and her baby and sparking international criticism.

Peru is considered the world's top producer of cocaine and coca by the United States and United Nations.

Reuters