Other Presidential Documents from Callao and other Peruvian ports, riverine transport, and overland transport to move drugs out of Peru to evade aerial interdiction of traf- ficking aircraft. Private shipping companies, encouraged by the GOP, mon- itored sea cargo container activities during 1999, which led to the seizure by the Peruvian National Police of over five tons of cocaine base and co- caine hydrochloride bound for Europe. Reliable reports and eradication campaigns indicate that Peru has an emerging opium poppy cultivation problem. Cultivation of opium poppy is illegal in Peru; whenever such plantings are identified, the GOP takes prompt action to destroy them. Reliable reports indicate that 55 kilograms of latex gum were seized in 1999, and 34,000 plants were eradicated. In December, the Peruvian National Police arrested maior drug trafficker Segundo Cachique Rivera. The Peruvian National Police chemical control unit conducted over %500 regulatory and criminal investigations of suspect businesses in 1999, making 58 arrests and seizing over ll2 tons of con- trolled chemicals and two chemical companies. The GOP also passed new legislation to enhance the control of precursor chemicals. Peru's significant reduction of coca under cultivation proves that its strategy is working. However, with higher prices being paid for coca, many farmers will be tempted to abandon licit crops. It is essential that manual eradication of illegal coca crops, counter-drug related alternative develop- ment, reinvigoration of the airbridge denial program, and land and mari- time/riverine interdiction all continue as complementary programs. The GOP should also refine relevant laws, especially as they pertain to money laundering, asset seizure, and chemical controls. Taiwan The United States considers Taiwan a maior transit point for drugs af- fecting the United States due to its geographic location, its role as a re- gional transportation/shipping hub, and the activities of organized crime groups. Taiwan in 1999 continued its aggressive domestic counter-drug program and its effective cooperation with the United States, through the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Through October \177999, Taiwan au- thorities investigated 68,612 new drug cases, an increase of 48.9 percent over the same time period in 1998. The authorities seized more illicit drugs, primarily methamphetamine-type stimulants, in the first ten months of 1999 than all of 1998. Although indictments and convictions for drug- related offenses on Taiwan continued to fall in \177999, the decline reflects the first full year in which a law, allowing first-time addicts to participate in drug treatment programs in lieu of imprisonment, has been in force. Taiwan cannot be a signatory to the \177988 Drug Convention because it is not a UN member. Taiwan authorities, nonetheless, have passed and imple- mented laws bringing Taiwan into compliance with the Convention's goals and obiectives. Taiwan also continued to expand counter-drug cooperation with U.S. law enforcement agencies, through AIT. Encouraged by AIT and DEA, Taiwan authorities passed two key drug laws to control both the manufacture and sale of phenylpropanolamine (PPA). The laws allow pre-export notification on shipments of PPA to other countries and establishes a new agency to monitor the production, use, and sale of drugs. Taiwan has continued to strengthen its efforts to stop drug 381
�
