Peru drug trafficking groups expanding to new European markets
Drug trafficking routes out of Peru have taken a new direction in recent years, suggesting a shake up in the criminal networks operating in the country and the emergence of new consumer markets, particularly in eastern Europe.
Peru is the second largest producer of coca in the world. Traditionally, Colombian and Mexican organizations have trafficked cocaine from Peru up through the main drug trafficking corridors to the United States. However, recently such groups have lost their dominance in the country.
“The dynamics of drug trafficking in Peru have changed a lot,” Rubén Vargas, the head of the National Commission for Development and Life Without Drugs (Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo y Vida Sin Drogas – DEVIDA), told InSight Crime. “The trafficking routes now basically head south, towards Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil, but most of all to Bolivia.”
According to Vargas, trafficking groups use Bolivia as a bridge, transporting drugs in small planes overseas or by terrestrial routes to markets in neighboring Brazil.
Now, only about 10 percent of the drugs produced in Peru end up in the United States.
“Most of the drugs produced here end up in Europe, Brazil, or Oceania. The market is now starting to open up in Asia too,” said Vargas.
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