The Peruvian police have destroyed 60 makeshift drug laboratories and seized 2.5 tons of cocaine in a five-day raid in Peru's jungle drug heartland, according to an official statement released on Sunday.

The statement said that 210 soldiers of a special task force and nine helicopters participated in the operation, dubbed as "Monzon 2004" and conducted in the area of Monzon, province of Huanuco.

It said that police also seized 86 tons of dry cocaine leaves and 368 tons of basic cocaine paste, made from the coca leaf, but no one was arrested in the raid.

Peru is among Latin America's top three drug producers, with an annual yield of 250 tons of cocaine, the second largest producer in the world only after its neighboring country Colombia.

At present, there are around 30,000 hectares of coca fields in the country.

(Xinhua News Agency October 11, 2004)