Peru sees increase in heroin, morphine production says antidrug agency.

(From BBC Monitoring International Reports)

newspaper La Republica web site on 1 July; subheadings as published

Last year, the illegal poppy crops planted in the country increased to cover an area of over 1,300 ha, confirming the interest on the part of Colombian and Mexican traffickers.

Peasants have been encouraged to cultivate the poppy plants on their land and are taught to extract the opium latex which is used to produce morphine and heroin.

It took years to convert Peru into a link in the world heroin production chain, according to intelligence sources from the National Antidrug Directorate (Dinandro). The cultivation sites are scattered through the departments of Amazonas, Huanuco, Apurimac, Cajamarca and Lima, according to the assessment from the sources consulted by La Republica …