It starts with the coca plant, for years Peru’s largest money-making commodity. Growing only in altitudes of 2500 feet or above and located deep in the jungle in a remote area east of the Peruvian Andes, this crop continues to produce about two-thirds of the cocaine currently being sold throughout the world.

Photo Credit: Peruvian National

CBP course developers/instructors conducting training in the coca fields with Peruvian canine handlers.

Although there are legitimate uses of the plant, today hundreds of these crops are being eradicated through the Peruvian Ministry of Interior’s Coca Control and Reduction in the Alta Huallaga Valley (CORAH) initiative, an eradication program headed up by the Narcotics Affairs Section (NAS) in Lima, Peru.

But efforts to decrease coca production have not come without a price.

The program has recently been affected by terrorist attacks from narco-terrorist/guerrilla organizations directly impacting NAS and the CORAH. Numerous improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have detonated in the fields during eradication operations, leading to several major injuries of the eradicators, and posing a significant threat to them as well as to the Peruvian National Police (PNP) officers who provide armed protection to those eradicators.

So the PNP shifted their focus and sought help for a better solution to help detect these explosives. They turned to the subject matter experts at Front Royal.

Photo Credit: Peruvian National

Detonated area in the Peruvian jungle where canines initially alerted and detected explosive devices.

In October 2006, several canine instructors from the center were tasked to develop a successful explosive detector dog program for the Peruvian National Police. Their main objective was to successfully train explosive detector dogs to be deployed at the PNP base camps located in remote areas east of the Andes in Peru. These dogs would be specially trained to detect high explosives that had been buried by narco-terrorists in an attempt to deter, harm or murder the PNP officers conducting eradication efforts in the coca fields.

Canine Course Developers/Instructors went to work researching, developing, designing and coordinating a unique detector dog course for buried, concealed, and camouflaged explosives that would imitate the terrain and environment the PNP officers would undergo in the Andes Mountains and subsequent coca fields.

Today, seven explosive dog teams and one narcotic/currency dog team from Peru have been certified by CBP in the areas of explosives/narcotics/currency in open areas, occupied buildings, and vehicle interior and exterior. These teams have also been trained and certified in helicopter training—which includes dog teams boarding and disembarking on a leash while the helicopter hovers three to six feet off the ground.

With the foundation laid, the PNP now has the tools and resources for a successful program for years to come.

Their first hits In April 2007, three of the new PNP explosive detection canines trained by CBP have made hits since being deployed to Peru. Three canines searched a coca field and each alerted on improvised explosive devices consisting of ammonium nitrate, fuel oil (ANFO) and a half stick of dynamite as a detonator. Another alerted to six pounds of cocaine that was concealed in a makeshift laboratory in the Andes jungle after it had been searched by police officers. “No doubt, many lives were saved,” said Lee T. Titus, Director, of the Canine Center. “These findings have given a sense of confidence, pride and security for all personnel involved.”