Peru has become the world’s largest COCA producer

As reported

Peru has overtaken Colombia as the world’s largest coca crop cultivator, reinforcing its position as the world’s primary cocaine producer and highlighting the growing demand for the drug in Europe and regional markets.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) annual report “Peru: Cocaine Cultivation Monitoring 2012,” more than 60,000 hectares of coca crops were cultivated in Peru in 2012, compared to 48,000 hectares in neighbouring Colombia. Although coca cultivation decreased in both countries when compared to the previous year, in Peru it only dropped by 3.4 per-cent, while Colombian cultivation fell by 25 per-cent.

As in neighbouring Bolivia, Peru has a sizeable domestic demand for unprocessed coca leaves. However, according to the report, that demand could be met with less than 7,000 hectares of coca crop, suggesting that the vast majority of coca produced is destined for drug processing.

 

The Analysis

Peru’s newfound position as the number one cultivator of coca reinforces its status as the world’s primary producer of cocaine, a position it previously attained through growers’ use of coca strains that produce a higher cocaine yield. Even without these advantages, Peru would likely remain the world’s biggest cocaine supplier as interdiction rates are a fraction of those seen in Colombia.

The emergence of Peru as the world’s main supplier has been boosted by changing consumption patterns. Most Peruvian cocaine is destined for consumption in Brazil and Argentina or export to Europe — all markets that have grown substantially in recent years. In contrast, the US market has declined, but remains predominantly the domain of Colombian cocaine, which accounts for 95 per-cent of all imported product, according to US government estimates.

While cocaine production has been booming, prices have fallen to levels much lower than those seen in Peru’s rivals, to the extent that much of the cocaine that arrives in Argentina and Brazil from Bolivia now originates in Peru.

The thriving cocaine sector has inevitably attracted the interests of international organized crime groups, research in the country revealed the presence of Colombians, Mexicans and Russians. However, this has not yet led to growing violence, and Peru has yet to see the sort of criminal conflicts that still plague Colombia.

The Peruvian government has pledged to fight trafficking, announcing a hard-line anti-drug strategy in 2011. However, their efforts have yielded questionable results. Though authorities eradicated 12,000 hectares in the first half of 2013, it is unclear whether such efforts actually decrease the total cultivation area or if growers simply move elsewhere.

 

money Laundering reaches $ 10 billion in Mexico, representing 3.6 percent of GDP

In Mexico it is estimated that in 2012 the amount of money laundered rose, representing 3.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP)

So says the document “Money Laundering” conceptual theoretical study, comparative law, international treaties and the new law on the subject in Mexico, that the House of Representatives issued a statement.

laundering money in Mexico reaches 10 Billion dollars for 2012

The report notes that according to the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP), only in the first quarter of 2003 the amount of money laundering was equivalent to 3.06 percent of GDP, after this period and until the second quarter of 2009, the percentage of money laundering equivalent to GDP fluctuated between 1.5 percent and 2.4 percent.

“These figures are due to the crime situation that has permeated our social, economic and financial, that must be triggered in a legal fight,” says the study by the SHCP.

According to the diagnosis of International Monetary Fund (IMF), the total amount of funds laundered in the world could vary between 2 percent and 5 cientodel global GDP.

Among the predicate offenses to money laundering internationally lies the smuggling of organs, tissues and medications people, art, animals, as well as drug trafficking and corruption, extortion and kidnapping.

“The illegal proceeds can be transferred easily and instantly from one jurisdiction to another” highlights the study.

With regard to the countries of Latin America, Mexico is below Peru in the percentage of GDP that represents money laundering, as the latter reported 4.4 percent to 2011, compared to the 3.6 percent that corresponds to Mexico 2012.

Finally, explains that the means of carrying out operations with illegal proceeds is the financial system, hence, the amount of legal and provisions governing the institutions responsible for implementing and enforcing the measures for any activity that may facilitate the commission of this crime

 

British scientist caught smuggling two kilos of cocaine

Jailed … Frampton said he was tricked by gangsters posing online as glamour model Denise Milani

But scientist claims he was duped in bikini model honeytrap sting

Paul Frampton and a Beauty

AN acclaimed British scientist caught smuggling two kilos of cocaine at a South American airport has been jailed for almost five years.

Professor Paul Frampton, 68, claimed he was duped into carrying the drugs in a honeytrap sting involving a bikini model.

But the Oxford-educated academic was sentenced to four years and eight months in an Argentinian prison after being convicted of drug trafficking.

He was arrested in January after being stopped at Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires, where cops found the drugs wrapped in gift paper inside Frampton’s suitcase lining as he tried to board a plane to Peru.

The divorced physicist told police he had been tricked into carrying the drugs by gangsters who posed on the internet as 32-year-old glamour model Denise Milani. Speaking after his arrest, he said: “Perhaps I should have realised earlier but the fraudster was very good and very intelligent. ”For 11 weeks I thought I was chatting with an attractive woman.”

Frampton, who was teaching at the University of North Carolina, said he first travelled to La Paz, Bolivia, where he thought he was going to meet Miss Milani, a former Miss Bikini World, for the first time. In La Paz, he claims to have met a middle-aged man in a hotel who gave him the suitcase, saying it belonged to Miss Milani.

The following day he travelled to Buenos Aires and was instructed to fly to Brussels to meet the model. But after waiting 36 hours at the airport for “her” to send him an electronic ticket, he said he decided to head back to the US via Peru.

Frampton, originally from Kidderminster, Worcs, was convicted after prosecutor Mario Villar read out emails and text messages which the professor had sent his “girlfriend”. According to local reports, the correspondence included the phrases: “I’m worried about the sniffer dogs”, “I’m looking after your special little suitcase” and “In Bolivia this is worth nothing, in Europe it’s worth millions”.

The prosecutor also showed the court a note written by the scientist reading “1grm/200US$. 2000grms/400000U$S”. Model miss Milani, who was completely unaware she was being used as a honeytrap, has since spoken of her shock at being dragged into the sting.

The scientist’s ex-wife, Anne-Marie Frampton, 71, has described him as being “a naive fool”. They divorced four years ago after 15 years of marriage but remain close friends. Frampton, who graduated with a double first from Brasenose College, Oxford, suffers from high blood pressure and lung problems, and had been facing up to 16 years behind bars.

His defence lawyer Eduardo Oderigo said: “There were many good reasons to have acquitted him. I set them out in his defence. I am convinced of his innocence.”

Source: thesun.co.uk

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• Ex-wife defends drug professor who fell for Denise Milani (theweek.co.uk)

 

Georgia USA, DEA dismantle gang that smuggled drugs from Mexico

The operation, involving  Cobb and Douglas counties, culminated in the arrest of several dealers and members of Mexican drug cartels

Gang busted for smuggling drugs from Mexico to USA via Georgia

A total of thirty-five people, most of them Hispanic, were arrested in an operation that dismantled a gang that smuggled drugs from Mexico, Peru and Ecuador, reported the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) .

In this operation, authorities seized 145 pounds of cocaine and more than three million dollars in cash.

The operation, which also involved Cobb and Douglas counties, culminated in the arrest of several dealers and members of Mexican drug cartels, including Macedo Adan Rios, one of the ringleaders of the gang, which operated in the metropolitan area Atlanta.

Macedo, of Mexican origin and who was arrested on 1 August with 14 other members of the band, had a legal business in Atlanta that used to conceal drug trafficking activities to Atlanta, Florida, New York and Texas.

Authorities also seized seven pounds of amphetamines, a pound of hashish and three weapons as part of the operation, whose investigations began last year.

According to authorities, Atlanta has become in recent years in a major drug distribution center on the east coast of the United States to Mexican cartels.

Related articles

• DEA: Mexican drug operation smashed in metro Atlanta (ajc.com)

 

Peru has now overtaken Colombia as the largest cocaine exporter in the world

Peru has now overtaken Colombia as the largest cocaine exporter in the world. Some regions produce huge quantities of coca leaves and coca paste – which is then turned into pure cocaine destined for Europe, Asia and Latin America.

Peru is number 1 for cocaine production

 

“It’s a fresh approach. I think it’s one that’s long overdue. Peru has been a very obedient student of US drug policies; they’ve done it our way for many, many decades now and look where it’s gotten them.” – Sanho Tree, an expert on the ‘war on drugs’

 Until recently, the government did very little to tackle the problem – making Peru an obvious choice for drug traffickers looking to move from Colombia, where they were hunted by the police and US-backed troops. At times, the government tried a policy of eradication – that is the forced elimination of coca crops by burning or spraying them with chemicals. But many consider this strategy a failure because farmers found other plots of land for coca production.

However, the government of Ollanta Humala, Peru’s new president, is taking a different approach to tackling the problem: getting tough on traffickers and encouraging farmers to grow other crops instead of coca.

“The economics of the situation is able to defeat the best intentions.” – Kevin Casas-Zamora, the former vice president of Costa Rica

 Firstly, the government wants to help farmers plant alternative crops – such as bananas and coffee. And secondly, they want to increase the state’s investments in infrastructure projects in the area dense with coca farming. This could mean more schools and roads. And, finally, Humala says he will go after the drug traffickers and their money. The Shining Path, the Maoist rebel group, in particular will be targeted.

“We don’t believe that eradication is an effective way of approaching the issue of coca crop because eradication basically means the disappearance of one plant without being sure that that plant won’t be cultivated again 10 metres from the place it has been eradicated.” Ricardo Soberon, the director of Peru’s anti-drug commission

Related articles

• Peru suspends US-funded coca eradication programme (guardian.co.uk)

 

Argentina- 25 percent of Latin America’s entire cocaine consumption

Joaquin Guzman, His place!

Peruvian traffickers are also building links in Argentina, as detailed in a recent investigation by newspaper Clarin. Despite the arrest of Peruvian alleged capo Marco Antonio Estrada Gonzáles, alias “Marcos,” in 2007, he has continued to run the trade in a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires called Bajo Flores, which is the city’s hub for the sale of cocaine and “paco,” a crack-like substance. The product sold there all comes from Peru, and is transported to Argentina by land or by air, with drug “mules” who ingest a load being a thing of the past, according to the report.

There have even been reports that Mexican capo Joaquin Guzman, alias “El Chapo,” the Zetas Drug Lord, perhaps the most wanted man in the world, had moved to Argentina in 2010, leaving only in March of this year.

Argentina is not just attracting high-profile capos, but also the lower-down managers who run the drug trade day by day. These Colombian middle-managers are locating themselves in Argentina in order to oversee the export of drugs to Europe, according to reports going back as far as 2008. A recent article in El Pais announced that “the Colombian drug trade has shifted to the south of the continent,” with Argentina becoming a new centre of operations for traffickers.

The country is good place to base a drug trafficking business, as it has become increasingly important as a trans-shipment point for drugs being sent to Europe, either via West Africa or Spain. It shares long land borders with drug-producing Bolivia, and with Paraguay, an important transit route for cocaine and producers of marijuana. Meanwhile, the high volume of cargo, passing through its’ many sea ports and airports, help to disguise outgoing drug shipments.

Colombians located in the city of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, in shipping cocaine into Argentina. According to the newspaper, Colombian traffickers have set up factories around the city, which process coca leaves from the conveniently close-by Chapare region, one of the country’s biggest producers of the leaf. These factories ship drugs over the border into Argentina in “industrial quantities,” using roads which are deserted and under-policed, reports El Pais. There have been reports that up to 3,000 Colombians are now based in the city, many thought to have arrived there around 2006

Argentina did not have the necessary climate or location to play a major part in the rise of cocaine in the last century, and this relative absence of the drug business has contributed to the country having a lax regulatory climate and less vigorous law enforcement. Drug kingpins can launder their money through the country’s poorly-regulated financial system. This is made easier by the widespread use of cash, a legal loophole meaning it is not a crime to “launder” your own money, and an under-regulated real estate sector.

Another attraction for drug traffickers is that Argentina is an increasingly important trans-shipment location for chemicals used to make methamphetamine, as it does not have the restrictions placed on these chemicals in, say, Mexico. In addition to this the country is increasingly emerging as a drug market in its own right, accounting for some 25 percent of Latin America’s entire cocaine consumption.

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• Madrid: Colombian Drug Cartel’s Money-Laundering Operation Busted By Spanish Police (lostchildreninthewilderness.wordpress.com)