About half a ton of cocaine and more than 70 kilograms of coca base paste were found by troops and seized at the place, the value of which would amount to more than 4,000 million pesos.
Thanks to two military operations carried out simultaneously by the Colombian Navy, Colombian National Army and the Colombian Aerospace Force, in coordination with the National Police, it was possible to deal heavy blows to the logistical and armed structures of the Residual Organized Armed Group, GAO-r, Structure 1 Armando Ríos, in the rural area of the municipalities of Mapiripán and Puerto Concordia, department of Meta.
The first incident occurred in the vicinity of a sector known as El Eden or Caño Ovejas, in the village of El Mielon in the municipality of Mapiripán, Meta, where the authorities arrived in thanks to information from military intelligence. In the place, a cocaine hydrochloride production laboratory made of 11rudimentary structures was found, which had been strategically built in the middle of the vegetation so as not to be detected; however, the troops identified them and found more than 456 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride and 71.4 kilograms of coca base paste inside.
There, 1,345 kilograms of solid precursors and 3,270 gallons of liquid precursors were in the same way destroyed, in addition to different tools commonly used in this type of structure for the production of cocaine hydrochloride, such as a power generator, hoses and storage tanks, among other elements.
It is presumed that this laboratory belonged to the Residual Organized Armed Group E1 Armando Ríos and had the capacity to produce approximately two tons of cocaine hydrochloride per month. The material found, which would have a cost of more than 4,200 million pesos in the illegal market, was put into custody of the authorities in Villavicencio - Meta.
In the same way, in the village of El Berlín, a rural area of the municipality of Puerto Concordia, troops of the Colombian Navy and Colombian National Army in the same way found an illegal hiding place with explosives in which, members of the Residual Organized Armed Group E1 Armando Ríos, had hidden 18 improvised explosive devices composed of approximately nine kilos of ANFO that, apparently, they would use to carry out attacks against the nearby inhabitants and the Military Forces, as a method of pressure for obtaining the payment of extortions.
The security protocols were immediately activated in all the military and police units in the area and an explosions and demolitions team - EXDE of the Colombian Navy - was moved to the place. Under the protocols established for this risky work, the military personnel destroyed these improvised explosive devices in controlled conditions, which have lethal effects, do not discriminate against their victims, cause irreparable damage, destroy public and private property, energy construction and damage the environment, among other effects that constitute a flagrant violation of human rights and international humanitarian law.
Source: Press – Navy of Colombia
