NAS MONTHLY REPORT FOR JUNE 2007

UNCLAS LIMA 002344 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR INL/LP STATE FOR WHA/PPC ONDCP FOR LT COL RONALD GARNER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SNAR KCRM ASEC PREL PE SUBJECT: NAS MONTHLY REPORT FOR JUNE 2007 REF: LIMA 2107 -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (SBU) The key developments in June 2007: ** A total of 2,616 hectares of coca has now been eradicated and 15,465 square meters of seedbeds have been eliminated. ** CORAH opened a second eradication front in Ucayali on June 12 until the end of July. ** An anti-drug prosecutor and 3 police were killed June 14 in a Sendero Luminoso-type ambush near Tocache. ** A senderista attack on the Santa Lucia base was narrowly averted June 17. ** Ambassador Struble paid hommage to a fallen police officer in the presence of his family at Ayacucho ** DIRANDRO destroys 29 cocaine-production laboratories; the Road Interdiction Group seizes 3.7 MT ofprecursor chemicals. ** Police Program is recruiting for the pre-academies from three local indigenous groups. ** Protests in Pucallpa led to closure of airport and suspension of flights ** Security threats require helicopters to fly too many hours, leading to serious maintenance backlog. ** SOPs and checklists used in Colombia are now being used by NAS-Lima to adapt to the increased activity of the SL. ** The PNP find cocaine embedded in plastic sheets; air and seaport seizures already surpass last year's record. ** Three thousand kids march on the Government Palace in support of anti-drug programs and meet President Garcia. END SUMMARY -------------- -------------- ERADICATION CONTINUES DESPITE BOMBS AND OTHER THREATS -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) As of June 30, CORAH had eradicated a total of 2,616 hectares of illegal coca and eliminated 15,465 square meters of seedbeds. Eradication in Yanajanca will be completed by early July. On June 9, seven IEDs were discovered by canines and CORAH workers at the eradication site in Yanajanca. Five were detonated, but two exploded, injuring five eradicators. On June 13, 100 dynamite cartridges with 5 kg of nails (as shrapnel) were found inside the eradication camp at Yanajanca wired to explode--about 100 feet away from the workers (Ref A). ¶3. (U) CORAH opened a second eradication front in Ucayali on June 12 until the end of July. The bulk of CORAH operations continue to focus on the Yanajanca area where 200 CORAH workers are going out in each rotation, in contrast to Ucayali where 60 workers are going out. ¶4. (SBU) Santa Lucia base of eradication operations narowly averted an attack in the evening of June 17 when an explosive device was detonated outside the perimeter fence, as a diversionary tactic, apparently to cause confusion and facilitate entry into the camp by Sendero Luminoso operatives on the opposite side of the base by the river, where the armory is situated. A CORAH worker at the gate apprehended an entering suspect and DINOES and GOES reacted to repel the impending attack. The apprehended suspect was questioned by the police in front of a fiscal (attorney),and he gave details about the planned attack. He remains in custody as a terrorist suspect. -------------- -------------- NARCO-TERRORISTS KILL 3 POLICE AND A PROSECUTOR -------------- -------------- ¶5. (U) An anti-drug prosecutor and 3 police were killed June 14 in a Sendero Luminoso-type ambush near Tocache (Ref A). Two other police were seriously wounded. The police and prosecutor had been engaged in interdicting a truck carrying precursor chemicals for cocaine production. The killings are the latest in a series of non-conventional attacks on police, eradicators, and others involved in fighting drugs in the zone. Two other police were seriously injured in the ambush. They are a further sign that Sendero Luminoso is fully integrated with narco-trafficking in the Tocache/Yanajanca/Monzon areas and is determined to fight to protect its base. -------------- -------------- POLICE CONTINUE SEIZURES; INDIGENOUS POLICE CADETS RECRUITED -------------- -------------- ¶6. (U) As part of DIRANDRO's support for CORAH in Yanajanca, it destroyed 29 cocaine-production laboratories and neutralized over 2,700 kg of precursor chemicals. DIRANDRO personnel based in Santa Lucia, along with the Peruvian Army, conducted several operations based on intelligence, netting seven laboratories in the Yanajanca area. Police personnel from the Palma Pampa base in the VRAE destroyed 12 cocaine-production base laboratories this month. The Ayacucho Road Interdiction Group has seized 3.7 MT of precursor chemicals. In the first six months of this year, 10 MT of precursor chemicals have been seized by the road-interdiction group. ¶7. (U) Data from DIRANDRO's official registry claims that to date 241 cocaine-production laboratories and five cocaine-HCl laboratories were destroyed, along with the seizure of 3.9 MT of precursor chemicals, 2,676 kg of cocaine base and 4,009 kg of cocaine HCl. In the VRAE coca-leaf-price per arroba is the same as last month, 70 nuevo soles. In the Upper Huallaga, the price per arroba is 80 nuevo soles, a slight uptick from last month. ¶8. (U) An NGO, funded by the NAS Police Program, met with 35 representatives from 3 indigenous groups: Ashaninka, Machiguenga, and Nomachiguenga. The workshop provided information on the NAS-PNP pre-academies in Mazamari and Ayacucho. The response of the participants was positive and many parents applied to send their children (ages 17-18) to the pre-academies. A NAS priority is to reach out to the indigenous groups in the region to recruit new police officers. Male and female officers drawn from the area are more likely to serve in their own communities or region rather than escaping to Lima or other cities. Also, a better understanding by the PNP of the social and cultural mores of the region should improve its effectiveness. -------------- -------------- AMBASSADOR VISITS NAS/PNP BASIC TRAINING ACADEMY -------------- -------------- ¶9. (U) During a June 22 visit to the Ayacucho region with Minister of Defense Alan Wagner and members of the Peruvian congressional Commission on Defense and Narcotics, Ambassador Struble reviewed and addressed the entering students at the Ayacucho Academy. The Ambassador gave homage to PNP officer Rolando Cisneros, of the first graduating class of this Police Academy, who was assassinated by narcotraffickers on June 13 at Llochegua, Huanta. Cisneros had been the star of his class: on ten different occasions, he was National Kick Boxing Champion and in 2005 he was the South American Kickboxing Champion. Cisneros mother was present at the ceremony. -------------- -------------- NAS AVIATION ASSETS ARE STRETCHED TO THEIR LIMIT -------------- -------------- ¶10. (SBU) The increasing threat posed by remnants of the Sendero Luminoso (SL) and cocaleros in the VRAE and the Yanajanca area has pushed NAS to increase the UH-2 flying hours, which has forced NAS aviation to operate at a level above our scheduled monthly flying hour program. Therefore, unscheduled and scheduled phased maintenance on our fleet are at an all time high, making it difficult to sustain our CN operations tempo. NAS has contacted the INL Air Wing for assistance in coordinating with the contractor, DynCorp, to: 1) send a special phase-maintenance team to Peru to help with the maintenance backlog, and 2) send four UH-2 replacement engines or send a team to repair those in Peru. ¶11. (SBU) To compound the aviation maintenance problem, the PNP's MI-17s normally used for eradication have been diverted for transporting the Peruvian Army and CT police in their pursuit of the SL. The lack of MI-17s has caused the UH-2s to have a much heavier work load. One MI-17 can transport as many police and eradicators in one load as four UH-2s, i.e., approximately 35-40 flight hours to insert and extract 1,000 eradicators and security police. The DIRAVPOL commander has promised two MI-17s that have been recently overhauled by a Russian firm in July. ¶12. (U) After a review of security measures at NAS Forward Operating Locations (FOL) for U.S. personnel and helicopters, the INL Air Wing noted the increase in the threat level in Peru. As a result, the SOPs and checklists used in Colombia were sent to NAS Lima and will be used as applicable to adapt to the increased activity of the SL. ¶13. (SBU) The Peruvian Air Force C-26 program, supported by NAS, continues to conduct reconnaissance and FLIR missions over the sites where the eradicators and security have been probed by SL. NAS believes that the overflights have dissuaded several SL ambushes. Additional flight hours have been funded for the C-26 program. One C-26 is in the U.S. for modification to install a digital camera. In addition, the FAP C-26s have become the aircraft of choice for transporting President Garcia throughout Peru. -------------- -------------- REGIONAL STRIKE IN PUCALLPA PUTS FIXED WING FLIGHTS ON HOLD -------------- -------------- ¶14. (SBU) An 'indefinite' general strike began June 26 in the region of Pucallpa against the government decision requiring workers to paythe same 19% IGV taxes paid Peruvians west of the Andes. Thousands of people protested in the streets and closed down all commercial activity, with violent confrontations between the protestors and riot police. Fixed wing flights into the NAS base halted, with the exception of a NAS B1900 airlift of a wounded policeman. Helicopter operations continued in support of eradication operations, without incident. Helicopters on the ground were moved off the ramp closer to the compound. Protestors marched on the airport June 27 when they heard local workers employed by NAS were continuing to work: they were stopped by riot police before they could get to the NAS facilites. On June 28, a large group of protestors again marched on the airport, broke through the police and entered the adjacent commercial airport where they burned tires on the runway and vandalized runway lights, causing the airport to close down and temporarily stranding 54 Amcits who were trying to leave. The response from the Peruvian police was good: NAS/DYNCORPS/PNP personnel, helicopters and facilities were protected by an additional 60 riot police. -------------- -------------- MARITIME SEIZURES CLIMB WITH BETTER TRAINING AND TECHNOLOGY -------------- -------------- ¶15. (SBU) During the month of June, units supported by the NAS Maritime Ports Program seized a total of 794 kg of cocaine HCL, and 22 kg of cocaine paste at the Lima International Airport, the Port of Callao, and along the Ucayali River system in eastern Peru. ¶16. (SBU) Assisted by NAS and DEA, the PNP seized 500 kg of cocaine HCL embedded in sheets of plastic as it was being shipped from a laboratory in the working-class, San Juan de Lurigancho district of Lima to a company in Callao where is was to be placed in containers for shipment out of the Port of Callao. Despite media reports that the "plasticized" cocaine was bound for Spain, the destination is still under investigation. The traffickers, headed by a Peruvian-Chinese businessman, made a previous shipment to Hong Kong. Six arrests have been made related to this case, including the heads of this trafficking group in Peru. ¶17. (SBU) The Airport Interdiction Group (Peruvian Customs and National Police) seized 250 kg of cocaine HCL leading to 49 arrests of people attempting to smuggle the drug in their luggage or by swallowing it. Airport seizures are nearing three MT in the first six months of this year. The body x-ray scanner will be operating in the Lima airport by mid-July, and we expect an increase in seizures and arrests of swallowers. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) will be sending an expert in behavioral analysis from the USCBP Passenger Analysis Unit (PAU) at the Miami International Airport in mid-September. The expert will provide a three-day exchange of information on Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTP) with Peruvian Customs to improve airport interdiction operations and to ensure effective use of the body x-ray scanner. ¶18. (SBU) The interdiction program at the Peruvian Post Office (SERPOST) seized 24 kg of cocaine HCL this month. USCBP will also be sending two experts on Post Office Interdiction Operations in mid-September for a 3-day exchange of information on (TTP) with Peruvian Customs. ¶19. (SBU) Joint Peruvian Navy and PNP boat patrols of ports along the Ucayali River system are increasing. On June 10, a boat patrol in the vicinity of Contamana, intercepted a water-taxi and discovered 4 kg of cocaine paste. On June 21, in the vicinity of Puerto Oriente, a boat was intercepted with 18 kg of cocaine paste hidden in luggage and another 11 kg of cocaine HCL found in the boat, leading to six arrests. -------------- ILEA REGIONAL TRAINING CENTER -------------- ¶20. (U) The ILEA regional training center in Lima hosted a two-week course on Trafficking in Persons with law enforcement officers, prosecutors and judges from Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Uraguay starting June 18. ILEA has agreed to fund a new course coordinator position attached to NAS Lima. The positions's responsibilities will include organizing course administration and logistics and coordinating programs with the host government. -------------- ANTI-CRIME LAW PACKAGE -------------- ¶21. (U) NAS met with the Vice Ministers of Interior and Justice to discuss the package of laws now being considered by the Garcia Administration. Among the issues discussed were a stronger witness protection program, a non-penal asset forfeiture law, stronger anti-corruption laws and the inclusion of cash as a seizable asset. The Peruvian Congress has authorized President Garcia to implement this crime package without further consultation with Congress. We expect the organized crime package will be announced in late July. -------------- -------------- YOUTH SPREAD MESSAGES ON UN DAY AGAINST DRUG ABUSE -------------- -------------- ¶22. (U) On June 26, the GOP, drug prevention NGOs, and community anti-drug coalitions (CAC) marked the UN International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking with parades, fairs, and youth activities. For example, -- Under the banner of "Healthy Students, Free of Drugs" (Estudiantes Sanos, Libres de Drogas),3,000 students marched to the Government Palace to meet with President Garcia, who gave an impassioned speech about youth, the future of Peru, and the dangers of drug abuse. The parade was organized by CEDRO, Peru's oldest (21 years) and largest drug prevention NGO. -- DEVIDA organized an event for students from schools around Lima. The youth groups are part of a police program to keep kids from using drugs. -- One CAC organized the neighborhood to stop the frequent all-night street parties fueled by booze and drugs by enlisting the help of the police and municipal officials. Another CAC organized a drug prevention fair where 64 schools presented dances, skits, and songs as well as haircutting and make-up lessons. STRUBLE