NAS MONTHLY REPORT, MARCH 2008

UNCLAS LIMA 000593 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, MARCH 2008 -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (U) The key developments in March 2008: ** CORAH has eradicated a total of 2,779 hectares of coca in CY 2008. ** Preparations are being made for eradication operations in high-threat area near Aucayacu. ** The first female DIRANDRO officer killed in action was a graduate of a NAS-supported Police Academy. ** The first-ever opium processing laboratory found in Peru was seized in San Martin region. ** The 4 PNP Pre-Academies to start soon with more than 850 students. ** NAS is setting up an FOL at Tingo Maria for 10 UH-2 and 3 MI-17 helicopters to support operations near Aucayacu. ** UH-2 blade damaged during extraction of interdiction team; potentially pricey unscheduled maintenance cost. ** Unprogrammed costs and unscheduled maintenance continue to be a major concern for aviation operations in Peru. ** GOP has been using the two NAS-funded C-26s until their aircraft are repaired; this is contrary to our MOU. ** Initial helicopter training for NAS pilots in Colombia nears reality; significant cost savings are expected. ** This month, Peruvian Customs and the police seized a total of 3.6 tons of cocaine HCl with NAS assistance. ** The C-26 with FLIR located a drug collection center on a beach south of Chiclayo; seized 1200 kg of cocaine. ** Peru's Congress votes to modify the GOP's asset forfeiture law. ** A local marketing firm is studying youth ages 10-18 in the poorer sections of Lima to design a media campaign. END SUMMARY -------------- --- ERADICTION IN TOCACHE FOCUSES ON REPLANTED COCA -------------- --- ¶2. (U) As of March 31, CORAH has eradicated a total of 2,779 hectares. Eradication operations have focused solely on the Tocache area so far during the 2008 eradication season. CORAH found that 59 percent of the coca eradicated was replanted since being eradicated in 2005 and 2006. Repeat operations by CORAH demonstrate to farmers the GOP's resolve to halt coca cultivation and pushes them to consider alternative development options. -------------- CORAH PREPARES FOR MOVE TO AUCAYACU AREA -------------- ¶3. (SBU) CORAH's base camp in the Aucayacu area will be �0A;located in an isolated area with no road access. The site chosen is also higher than the surrounding terrain, which provides an advantage for defending the base. Aucayacu is considered a high risk area with a high probability for conflict. CORAH is now preparing the base camp, which will house about 680 personnel (300 CORAH, 300 PNP, 80 Peruvian Army). Helicopters will be used to supply the base, and personnel will be ferried to the eradication zones by helicopter as well. The base will be relatively close to coca concentrations to the north and south of Aucayacu. CORAH will use the same work strategy as now where the eradication force will be divided in two groups so that while one group eradicates while the other one rests. The helicopters will be based in Tingo Maria, about 14 minutes of flying time from the base camp. The Aucayacu operations are expected to start mid-May. -------------- FIRST FEMALE DIRANDRO OFFICER KILLED IN VRAE -------------- ¶4. (U) In the early evening of March 23, DIRANDRO officer Marily Solier Galivan was killed by weapons' fire in a narco-terrorist ambush. Seven other police were injured in the attack. NAS provided fuel for the PNP's Antonov aircraft in order to evacuate the injured to Lima. Officer Solier had graduated from the NAS-sponsored PNP Academy in Ayacucho last March. She was the first policewoman killed from among the 389 women who have been trained at the NAS-funded PNP Police Academies east of the Andes. The brutal attack took place at 6:50 p.m. as two patrol cars from the Special Operations Road Group were returning to Ayacucho. The vehicles were surprised on a narrow road between Huamangilla and Tambo in the Huanta-Ayacucho area. Police believe the attack was a revenge killing for the Group's previous interdiction of chemical precursors on the notorious narco-transit route out of the VRAE--or was an effort to deter DIRANDRO from future patrolling. After the initial surprise, the police regrouped and repelled the attackers, saving the lives of the remaining officers. Of the 16 other officers were involved, 7 were wounded. ¶5. (U) Sub-official Solier was buried March 25 in her home town of Huanta. There was a huge popular outpouring of support for her family--significant because Huanta is known as the 'white city' for all of the cocaine that transits through the town, and the rally was against the narco-terrorism that was behind Solier's murder. -------------- OPIUM PROCESSING LABORATORY SEIZED -------------- ¶6. (U) The PNP's Department of Tactical Operations (DOTAD) in Tarapoto, with intelligence provided by DIRANDRO intelligence units, destroyed an opium processing laboratory in the vicinity of Soritos, province of Moyobamba in San Martin that resulted in. The raid happened during the night and early morning of the March 14-15. The PNP seized 106 kilograms of opium latex and 400 grams of morphine. Six people were arrested, including one female. This DIRANDRO group is led by DEA and supported by NAS (supplies/logistics). ¶7. (U) An opium latex processing lab was seized, which is a first, according to DIRANDRO and NAS Police Program memory. Although it was a very rustic laboratory, this presents a new trend in the local, illegal narcotics trade. The ability to produce morphine, a very lucrative type of narcotic, is a reason for concern since additional strategies and assets may have to be directed to finding and eradicating the poppy fields. ¶8. (U) The NAS police program dedicated assets in the past to an opium poppy strategy that has since been suspended due to the high operating cost and diminishing assets paired with a loss of interest by past DIRANDRO leadership. It may be worthwhile to re-evaluate this problem and invite DIRANDRO to prepare an action plan to address these new developments. -------------- -------------- DIRANDRO'S POLICE PRE-ACADEMIES START NEW SESSIONS -------------- -------------- ¶9. (U) A total 852 new students from local communities have so far been recruited for the four PNP-NAS police pre-academies: Ayacucho (353),Santa Lucia (70),Mazamari (160),and Tarapoto (269). The classes, slated to start by early May, will prepare the students for the police test in ¶2009. ¶10. (U) During March, 255 cocaine-base production laboratories and 5 cocaine HCl laboratories were destroyed, and 105,789 kg of chemical precursors and 3,905 kg of cocaine base were seized. -------------- -------------- PLANNING CONTINUES FOR CORAH MOVE TO HIGH-THREAT AUCAYACU -------------- -------------- ¶11. (SBU) The aviation assets needed for the eradication operations in the Aucayacu will be based at the Tingo Maria airport. Minor construction will be required such as cement helicopter pads, a fence or wall for security of 10 UH-2s and 3 police MI-17s helicopters, an area for helicopter maintenance, and temporary living quarters for mechanics and alert crews on standby. Flight crews received refresher training on sling loads/external cargo operations. All logistics support will be by air, since there are no roads into the operations area. ¶12. (SBU) NAS Aviation Advisors met with General Pedro Minaya Torres, the Commanding General of the FAP on March 3. The meeting was prompted by a letter from the NAS Director regarding the use of the 2 C-26 aircraft for other than CN flights, contrary to the terms of our MOU. The C-26s have become the primary transport for President Alan Garcia, other GOP officials, and the FAP high command, because the 4 FAP aircraft that are normally used are all being repaired. NAS doesn't pay for fuel for these flights, but we pay for the training of pilots and maintenance with an ARINC contract. Minaya requested our cooperation until the FAP aircraft were again operational by the end of April. As recompense, Minaya offered the use of FAP aircraft to support NAS CN missions at no cost to NAS. (Note: This concession by the general was uncharacteristic of him and must have been difficult. End Note.) -------------- -------------- MORE MAINTENANCE COSTS; UH-2 BLADE DAMAGED IN ATTACK -------------- -------------- ¶13. (U) Unprogrammed cost and unscheduled maintenance for the UH-2s continue to be a major factor in aviation operations in Peru. On March 23 after a CN operation in the VRAE, the last helicopter leaving the landing zone was attacked by locals who rushed the helicopter, throwing an object into the blades and damaging one of them. The cost for repairing or replacing the blade will not be known until it is inspected in the U.S. A replacement blade could cost as much as USD $113,000. At the semi-annual aviation safety stand-down on March 27, we reemphasized to the flight crews and CN police the proper procedures for extraction or insertion in hostile situations. -------------- -------------- SAVING EXPECTED WITH HELICOPTER TRAINING IN COLOMBIA -------------- -------------- ¶14. (U) Coordination continues on the Initial Entry Rotary Wing (IERW) training initiative for NAS Peru in Colombia. Cost for the training has been established for two Peruvian Air Police students starting in July. A Peruvian Instructor Pilot will be sent to Colombia as a guest instructor for two years. The formal request has been sent to the Commander of the Air Police and forwarded to the Minister of Interior for approval. NAS Peru and Air Police personnel will visit Colombia in May for final coordination. -------------- -------------- PORTS PROGRAM SEIZES 3.6 METRIC TONS OF COCAINE IN MARCH -------------- -------------- ¶15. (U) During March 2008, Peruvian Customs (SUNAT) and the PNP seized a total of 3,620 kg of cocaine HCl with assistance from the NAS Maritime/Ports Program. At the Jorge Chavez International Airport (JCIA),SUNAT seized a total of 136 kg of cocaine HCl. The Peruvian Post Office project seized 27 kg of cocaine HCl. The PNP at JCIA seized an additional 28 kilos. -------------- -------------- TRAFFICKERS ALTER TACTICS TO AVOID X-RAY BODY SCANNER -------------- -------------- ¶16. (U) Only 10 internal carriers (mules) were captured this month due to repairs on the x-ray body scanner, changes in personnel, and tactical adjustments by narcotraffickers by conspiring with "insiders". One insider tactic used to avoid the body scanner occurred on March 15. Airline security personnel alerted SUNAT that some of the black bags containing blankets for passengers were suspicious. SUNAT found 33 kg of cocaine HCl in 32 "bricks". On March 6, SUNAT found 14,000 Euros of undeclared cash stashed in the luggage of a Colombian national on an Avianca flight from Bogota to Lima. -------------- -------------- DRUGS SEIZED ON A REMOTE BEACH AND ON THE AMAZON RIVER -------------- -------------- ¶17. (U) On March 7, the PNP--led by DEA--seized 1,200 kg of cocaine HCl at a beach about 2 hours by road south of Chiclayo and arrested 4 Ecuadorian females between the ages of 18-23 and seized two automatic rifles. The cocaine was to be transported by boat to an unknown destination. The NAS-supported C-26 with FLIR provided reconnaissance support. On March 23, 413 kg of cocaine HCl were seized near Tamshiyacu (just south of Iquitos) on the Amazon River, and two traffickers were arrested. -------------- -------------- TWO COCAINE SITES RAIDED; PORT POLICE OFFICER IMPLICATED -------------- -------------- ¶18. (U) On March 29, a joint Customs/PNP) task force seized 1806 kg of cocaine HCl in two trafficker transit points in the districts of Ventanilla (near the Port of Callao) and La Molina (an upper-class district in Lima). In Ventanilla, 524 kg of cocaine was seized and 1,282 kg was seized in La Molina. One female PNP officer assigned to the port was arrested for alleged involvement in facilitating the transfer of the drugs from the transit points to the port. -------------- NAS SUPPORTS GOP'S ASSET FORFEITURE LAW -------------- ¶19. (U) The Garcia Administration presented Decree 992 to the Peruvian Congress in July 2007. The Decree allows the GOP to seize illicitly gained assets from many activities. The Decree went into effect November 2007. Since then, there has been a concerted effort by opposition Congressmen to have the law declared unconstitutional, because it allegedly violated guarantees of property. Those efforts finally ended when Congress voted on March 28 to modify the law in several aspects. Among the approved changes, the Public Ministry was placed in charge of investigating claims made that someone's assets were illicitly obtained instead of requiring that the accused prove that his assets were legally obtained. It also limited the application of the law to assets garnered from certain crimes such as narco-trafficking, money laundering, terrorism, kidnapping, and trafficking in persons. NAS worked closely with the Ministry of Justice to carry out a media campaign in newspapers and on radio explaining the purpose of law to the public. -------------- -------------- MARKETING STUDY SEEKS TO UNDERSTAND HOW TO REACH YOUTH -------------- -------------- ¶20. (U) NAS has hired a local marketing company to study the attitudes and perceptions of youth ages 10-18 in the middle to lower socioeconomic levels. There are many studies on youth's attitude toward drugs, but nothing in Peru on the best way to reach this target audience. The study should help in the design of future communications campaigns. It focuses on investigating such things as: how youth receive information (e.g., TV, radio, internet, word of mouth); what phrases and slang are used in spoken and written communication (e.g., on chat sites, emails, and blogs); who are their role models and why; what influence does their family and friends have; and what is their view of the future. The marketing company is charging below market prices to demonstrate good corporate social responsibility. MCKINLEY