Peru and Canada dismantle an international drug trafficking network

Peruvian and Canadian police dismantled an international drug trafficking organization in a simultaneous mega-operation that resulted in the arrest of 9 people, official sources reported on Friday.

According to the Peruvian Ministry of the Interior, the operation was carried out on Thursday in parallel in the city of Montreal and in the Peruvian regions of Lima and Huánuco.

The criminal network, called “Los Nórdicos”, sent drug consignments by air to Canada and other European countries, camouflaged in merchandise that they exported through formal companies, according to investigations carried out by the Peruvian National Police (PNP) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, with the support of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Between June 2022 and January this year, the law enforcement agencies of both countries seized more than 164,800 kilos of cocaine that said gang had allegedly tried to transport abroad.

During the mega-operation, the agents arrested 9 men, 8 of them in Peru and 1 in Canada, 4 of Peruvian nationality, 4 Canadians and 1 Venezuelan.

Also in the operation, in which representatives of the Public Ministry participated, more than 90,000 dollars in cash, five vehicles and two weapons were seized.

Peru is the second largest producer of cocaine in the world, behind Colombia, thanks, in part, to the more than 54,000 hectares of illicit coca leaf crops that exist in the country, according to the latest data from the National Commission for Development and Life without Drugs (Devida).

These coca plantations allow drug traffickers to export around 411 metric tons of cocaine per year from Peru, mainly in containers on merchant ships that depart from the ports of Callao and Paita, but also through “narco planes” that make air bridges with Bolivia and Brazil.

Source: EFE