Peru burns three and half tons of cocaine, heroin and opium confiscated
from drug traffickers over the last two months.

SHOWS:
LIMA, PERU (MARCH 18, 2008) (REUTERS) - Peruvian authorities threw three and a half tons of illegal drugs to
the furnace on Tuesday (March 18) after two months of rigorous
confiscations.
    The biggest hauls were of base products used to make cocaine, Peru
being the world's second largest coca producer after Colombia.
    But the 3,656-kilogram store also included marijuana, opium and basic
forms of heroin. Everything was loaded into the furnace, which was donated
last year by the United States.
    Peru's Interior Minister Luis Alva Castro, said everything on display
had been captured by the police since January 2, when the last burn-off was
done, and it's market value ran in the millions.
    "The total value of these drugs would be approximately 600 million
dollars on international market. And by that I am referring to the drugs we
have confiscated and the drugs we have prevented from being produced in our
country," Castro said.
    Peru has struggled to reduce cocaine production despite more than $300
million in U.S. aid since 2000.
    Analysts say Peru's rising drug production is largely the result of a
crackdown in Colombia, pushing more coca growers across the jungle border
between the two countries.