Peru Looks to Restart Aerial Interdiction Program, Antidrug Chief Says
Peru Looks to Restart Aerial Interdiction Program, Antidrug Chief Says
Program Was Suspended in 2001 Amid Outcry Over Accidental Downing of Civilian Aircraft
LIMA, Peru—Peru's antidrug chief says the government is working on restarting an aerial interdiction program that was abandoned over a decade ago when an air force fighter accidentally shot down a civilian aircraft, killing two American citizens.
The move comes as Peru, the world's top exporter of cocaine, is ratcheting up its war on drug traffickers. Peru significantly decreased the area used to grow coca last year through the forced manual removal of crops by teams of government workers, but has struggled to stop drug-laden planes in its top cocaine-producing region.
Luis Alberto Otárola, the head of Peru's antidrug agency, the National Commission for Development and Life Without Drugs, or Devida, says the government is in the process of acquiring radars to track small airplanes that currently enter Peru undetected from countries like Bolivia to smuggle cocaine to markets in Brazil, Argentina and Europe.
"There should be aerial interdiction, as an issue of basic sovereignty," Mr. Otarola said in an interview. "What I can say is that the Peruvian state is working tirelessly to implement this policy."
Mr. Otarola added that planes carrying cocaine "should be shot down."
"Our constitution requires us to protect the airspace and to fight illegal drug trafficking," he said.
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