Police find Bolivia's biggest-ever drug factory

La Paz: Bolivian police have found the largest cocaine factory ever discovered in the South American country, with a daily production capacity of 100kg, an anti-drugs squad chief said yesterday.

Authorities in Bolivia, the world's No 3 cocaine producer, think drug traffickers invested about $1.5 million (Dh5.46 million) in the well-equipped lab, which was found amid thick jungle in tropical Santa Cruz province thanks to tips from informers and intelligence work.

"We think up to 30 people were working there sometimes. It's big, pretty big, we've never seen anything like this," Lt Rosa Lema told Reuters, adding that officials thought it had been operating for about two years.

Police who raided the factory on Monday found 17kg of cocaine, 20 tonnes of chemicals used to produce cocaine from coca leaves and several guns.

Increasingly active

Eight people - six Colombians and two Bolivians - were arrested during the operation, Lema said, confirming fears that Colombian drug traffickers are increasingly active in Bolivia.

Bolivia is the third-biggest cocaine producer after Peru and Colombia, but coca is revered by the country's indigenous majority and many chew it to ward off the effects of high altitude. Coca tea is served throughout the Andean country.

The United States, which funds coca-eradication programmes in Bolivia, has attacked Morales for his "permissive" stance toward coca farmers and warned coca cultivation was growing.