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Illegal coca plantations in Colombia reached historically high levels in 2021, DPA reported, citing the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

The area under coca cultivation increased from 143,000 hectares in 2020 to 204,000 hectares.

That's a 43% jump that breaks a three-year downtrend.

The production capacity of cocaine hydrochloride, the purified substance of cocaine, has increased to historically high levels of 1,400 tons.

Colombia is one of the world's largest producers of cocaine, made from the coca plant, ahead of Peru and Bolivia.

400 kilos of coca among bananas found in France

Neither the peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which was also financed by drug trafficking, nor the coronavirus crisis have been able to reduce large-scale coca cultivation in Colombia.

Much of the cocaine is smuggled into the United States.

Record levels of confiscations have been reported in Europe recently.

Colombia

cocaine