Mongabay.com in conjunction with Latam and Earth Genome has conducted a survey of Peruvian rain forest in Ucayali Department, Peru. Assisted by AI the survey found 45 clandestine airstrips in the forest. Nine of these are located in logging concessions and some within native reserves; six are located in the middle of cocoa fields. Analysis of the data shows 67 acres of illicit crops within a 1.2 mile radius of an airstrip. Undoubtably the reason for these airstrips existence is narco-trafficking. Law enforcement officials also found labs associated with landing strips and think that the installations are part of the drug cartels' modus operandi. Some logging concessionaires have reported the installations, but their complaints have been ignored.
In one case from nine years ago, the concession owned by Ucayali Wood, reported existence of an illegal airstrip to the Peruvian criminal investigation division. Evidence was provided to authorities including pictures of an airplane and the landing strip. Nothing was done about the report. The company owns a 22,000 acre concession in Atalaya Province, an area ravaged by drug trafficking. Despite being virtual no-man's land, the landscape is littered with evidence of drug manufacturing. Ucayali Wood made repeated complaints through its agent in Atalaya, but a preliminary investigation was not launched until this year. It was shelved after authorities could not identify the perpetrators. The agent told Mongabay he will continue to make reports about illegal cocoa crops and other drug activities so not to lose his license to log which is valid until 2042.
Drug traffickers managed to build these strip during the pandemic years when officials were absent from the remote area. A leader of Ucayali indigneous people told Mongabay interviewers that they no longer report drug trafficking activity because local authorities, "don’t listen to us and can’t be trusted.” Neither the national police anti-narcotics unit (DIRANDRO) or the Ucayali Special Prosecutor's Office are currently investigating the establishment of illegal landing strips in forest concessions. Often the strips appear on land for which there is no registered owner.They can be destroyed, but that is about all that can be done in the circumstances of official corruption. All nations have their own problems.