Bolivia Arrests Belgian Miner for Illegal Import and Possession of Drug Precursors

During the last week of August, the Bolivian police arrested a Belgian citizen on counts of illegal import and possession of sulphuric acid. The man, previously an employee of a Belgian humanitarian NGO, nowadays exploits a borax mine in the Andean region. His mining activities require the use of sulphuric acid, a regular chemical commodity, which can however easily be diverted in the illicit manufacture of cocaine. Following suspicions that he might be involved in the manufacture and distribution of cocaine, the Bolivian police searched both his mining site near Uyuni and his offices in the capital of La Paz and discovered large volumes of sulphuric acid. According to the police and judicial authorities, these volumes largely exceed those required for the exploitation of the mine. The suspect however claims that since his mine is located at a site 5,000 metres above sea level, the exploitation requires larger volumes of the chemical. He furthermore argues that the fact that he relies almost entirely on manual labour instead of using expensive equipment, is another factor that needs to be taken into account: this method also requires more sulphuric acid. He also alleges that the search of his premises followed a fabricated complaint by one of his competitors...[more]