More than 24 million doses of cocaine were taken out of circulation on the international illegal market.
In a combined effort conducted by the Colombian Navy, United States and Dutch authorities, eight operations were carried out in the Caribbean Sea where it was possible to find 9.7 tons of cocaine hydrochloride, which would be marketed by transnational drug trafficking organizations in different parts of the world.
These important operations carried out by the Colombian Navy with the Joint Interagency Task Force of the United States Southern Command - JIRAFTS and the Dutch Forces in the Caribbean, led to the arrest of 15 individuals of different nationalities and prevented more than 327 million dollars from entering the financial and logistical structures of these multicrime organizations.
In the first operation, 5,117 kilograms of cocaine that would be destined for the coasts of the Dominican Republic were found by troops floating in Aruba's jurisdictional waters, under the modality of marked cargo, which consists of putting the narcotics in a previously established area at sea so that, later, it is recovered by another ship. The second operation led to the discovery of 586 kilograms of the same substance, which would have left in a boat manned by three individuals of the Goleta sector - department of Choc贸, with the intention of reaching the city of Lim贸n in Costa Rica.
Within the framework of this international operation against illicit drug trafficking, four more results were obtained with the maritime interception of four go fast boats, which would have sailed from the department of La Guajira to the Dominican Republic. In one of them, two individuals were transporting more than 452 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride; in the second, 797 kilograms of this drug were found by troops and four people were arrested; the third boat, manned by two individuals, was carrying more than 554 kilograms of the drug and in the last one, 630 kilograms of cocaine were found by troops.
The seventh operation was carried out in combination with the Dutch Navy in the Caribbean, involving the interception of a speedboat carrying 1,070 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride, distributed in 38 bags, and the arrest of four individuals. Finally, in the eighth result it was possible to interrupt the transport of 500 kilograms of this illicit substance to the southwest of Alto Velo - Dominican Republic, which were recovered from the water after having been left by the crew of a boat upon seeing the work of the naval Units.
With these eight operations, 9,707 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride were found, the commercialization of more than 24 million doses on the international illegal market was prevented.
In the same way, the combined work of the Colombian Navy with authorities in different countries of the world has led to detect more than 109 tons of cocaine by the Caribbean Naval Force in 2022, within the framework of international cooperation agreements.
These heavy results obtained in the last year represent losses exceeding 3,700 million dollars for transnational drug trafficking organizations that commit crimes in the Caribbean Sea, preventing approximately 55 thousand new addicts, 1,100 overdose deaths, 112 thousand medical emergencies and 71 million additional dollars in public health expenses.
Source: Press - Navy of Colombia
