Machu Picchu to install cameras, use drones to observe tourists in wake of defecation incident

Officials at Machu Picchu are hoping new security measures will curb the kind of crappy behavior exhibited by a group of tourists last week.

Jose Bastante, the head of the National Archaeological Park of Machu Picchu, said the site is taking measures to better observe visitors after six guests were detained for allegedly damaging a portion of the 15th-century Incan citadel, as well as defecating at the site’s Temple of the Sun.

"The six tourists are being detained and investigated by the public ministry for the alleged crime against cultural heritage," Cusco's chief of police said last week. (iStock)

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"We are going to strengthen security at Machu Picchu by installing high-tech cameras," Bastante said, reports the Agence France-Presse (AFP). "This will allow us to better control visitors and avoid any action or infraction to the regulations, also any type of risk."

Bastante specified that a total of 18 cameras will be installed at the archaeological park, at locations within the citadel and on the surrounding mountains. Drones will also be used to help monitor guest activity, the AFP reported.

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The six tourists — among them citizens of Chile, Brazil, France and Argentina — were initially apprehended on Jan. 12, and accused of defecating in the Temple of the Sun, as well as causing a piece of a wall to come loose and damage a part of the floor.

Officials said the tourists left damage and feces in the Temple of the Sun, thought to be one of the more sacred sites at the Incan citadel of Machu Picchu. (iStock)

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Five of the tourists were later expelled from the country, and banned from returning to Peru for 15 years. The sixth, 28-year-old Nahuel Gomez from Argentina, reportedly admitted to causing the wall to come loose. He received a suspended sentence of three years, four months, and ordered to fork over $1,800 in fines and repair fees.

Gomez will be free to leave the country once his fines are paid, the AFP reported.

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Machu Picchu, the top tourist destination in Peru and a designated a UNESCO World Heritage site, is visited by more than a million tourists annually. The semicircular Temple of the Sun is thought to be one of the most sacred structures at the Incan citadel, as worshippers were believed to have made offerings to the sun within its walls.

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