LIMA - The Peruvian government incinerated a total of 4,115 kgs of illicit drugs, with an international market value of over 500 million US dollars, near the capital Lima on Monday.
In an action presided over by Peruvian Interior Minister Luis Alva, 1,368 kgs of basic cocaine paste, 2,410 kgs of cocaine hydrochlorate, about 329 kgs of marijuana, and eight kgs of opium alkaloid were burned into ashes.
This was Peru's third illicit drug incineration in 2008 carried out at the high-tech ecologic furnace donated by the United States in 2007, located at Police Operations Department (Diroes) of Peru's national police (PNP) at Ate district, seven kms east of Lima.
Alva said these illegal drugs were confiscated in PNP operations before March 19, adding that Peru has confiscated and destroyed some eight tons of illicit drugs this year, about 40 percent of the amount seized in 2007.
