The President of the Council of Ministers Pedro Cateriano highlighted the unanimously Congress-approved bill on aerial interdiction designed to fight drug-trafficking in Peru.
The said law allows the Air Force of Peru to shoot down aircrafts when there is reasonable suspicion they are engaged in illicit activities.
According to Cateriano, the law reflects the Executive and Legislative Powers’ commitment to defend the national sovereignty and to protect the people.
It must be noted shooting down the aircrafts carrying illegal substances will be used as the last resort, once persuasion has been exhausted, the government official underlined.
The initiative was approved at the afternoon Congress session of 20 August with 89 votes in favor, after an extensive debate that began in the morning.
The alternative bill, introduced by the Defense Commission Chairman Emiliano Apaza, states that suspicious airships must assume a “hostile” attitude in the Peruvian airspace before interdiction is implemented.
Aircrafts classified as hostile are those that fail to fly along predetermined corridors set by authorities or those that fly above 3,000 feet within 40 nautical miles, among other 15 situations.
(END) NDP/EGZ/RES/MVB