The World - News from July 6, 1986

Peru has destroyed 141 airstrips used by drug traffickers and dismantled 26 cocaine laboratories in its U.S.-backed drive against the drug trade, Interior Minister Abel Salinas Izaguirre said in an interview. He also said 63 traffickers have been arrested since President Alan Garcia took office nearly a year ago and that 46 tons of coca paste--enough to produce 18 tons of cocaine--have been seized. The United States has provided $30 million to eradicate narcotics in Peru, where farms reportedly generate nearly half the raw material for the world’s supply of cocaine.