Venezuela Purging Border Drug Plots
Venezuelan authorities are launching Tuesday an operation code-named Sierra 2005, to eradicate two plantations of coca and poppy discovered in the Sierra de Perija, in the Venezuelan state of Zulia, close to the border with Colombia.

The action was jointly announced Monday by the Venezuelan ministries of Interior and Justice, and stems from investigations carried out by the National Armed Forces Unified Command in Zulia.

The National Commission against Illegal Drug Use, the Army, the National Guard and the Air Force are also taking part in the operation.

The illegal plantations were found in Tres Bocas, thanks to an image provided by the Organization of American States and received by Satellite Landsat 754, the authorities said.

The image also shows plantations on the Colombian side of the border, called Coca Colombia and Posible Coba, according to the official report.

Venezuelan authorities assured that should plantations be found on the Venezuelan side of the borderline, they would take swift actions to eliminate them, since the government of Hugo Chavez pursues an effective policy for destroying coca plantations and other illegal crops.

The authorities have confiscated thus so far in 2005 over 80 tons of different drugs, particularly cocaine, more than twice the amount they seized in 2004.