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Peru's largest area of coca cultivation and cocaine production remains the Valley of the Apurímac, Ene and Mantaro rivers, or VRAEM, accounting for some 35,709 hectares, Figueroa said.

The attack took place in the town of Natividad, in the remote Andean and jungle region known as the VRAEM, or Valle de los Rios Apurimac, Ene y Mantaro, which produces 75% of the South American nation's cocaine.

Among the hardest-hit areas is the verdant valley of the Apurímac, Ene and Mantaro rivers.

More than 500,000 people live in the Mantaro Valley in central Peru, where agriculture is the main source of income.

Delgado’s arrest Thursday followed an eight-month investigation, Mercado said, and it follows last week’s Associated Press report that found Peru’s armed forces have turned a blind eye to the daily airborne ferrying to Bolivia of more than a ton of cocaine from Peru’s Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro river valley.