Bogotá, Colombia
Cocaine uses lots of gas: More than a quarter of all gasoline sold in Colombia is being used to fuel cocaine production, the country’s government revealed this week. The attorney general’s office said it is investigating 33 gas stations in rural areas that have been selling vast amounts of gas—far more than local drivers could possibly be using. One remote station reported selling more than 1.2 million gallons of fuel a year—about the same as the busiest station in car-heavy central Bogotá. Gasoline is the main component in a chemical process that turns the coca leaf into paste, and it takes about 75 gallons of gas to make a single kilo of coca base. Some of the gas stations under suspicion are located in areas that lack paved roads but have plenty of illegal coca farms.