In development of military operations against the illegal structures dedicated to drug trafficking on the Pacific coast of Nariño, the Colombian Navy, the National Army and the National Police, along with the Attorney General Office, managed to intercept a semi-submersible loaded with more than a ton of cocaine and destruction of a laboratory for the production of the drug, apparently belonging to the residual Organized Armed Group (GAO-r) Oliver Sinisterra, in the area of the municipality of Tumaco.
The first operation was carried out at sea, 47 nautical miles from the Port of Tumaco, where Coast Guard units of the Pacific Naval Force with intelligence information from the National Police's Anti-Narcotics Directorate, detected a semi-submarine, manned by three Ecuadorian, who were travelling at high speed towards Central America. When the ship was inspected, 26 sacks with 1,030 packages of illegal substances were found.
The semi-submarine, the cargo and the three individuals were transported to the Tumaco Coast Guard Station, where members of the Judicial Police applied the initial approved preliminary test (Piph) to the substance found in the packages, proving positive for more than a ton of cocaine hydrochloride, which has a value of more than US$35 million in the international illegal markets.
At the same time, units of the Navy Infantry Battalion No.40, attached to the Hercules Joint Stabilization and Consolidation Task Force, together with troops of the Anti-Drug Battalion No.4 and members of the CTI (Technical Investigations Corps), guided by intelligence information from the Colombian Navy, were deployed to the area of Río Colorado, where an illegal warehouse made up of nine rustic structures, with the capacity to produce one ton of cocaine per week, was located. In the area, 1,496 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride and 658 kilograms of coca base paste were found, as well as solid inputs and elements for the crystallization and packaging of the narcotic.
In less than a week, this heavy operation carried out jointly and interagency by the Military Forces and the National Police in Pacific region of Nariño, has led to the destruction of two gigantic warehouses for the production of cocaine, the interception at sea of two semi-submarines loaded with narcotics and the seizure of more than five tons of narcotics. With these forceful blows, more than $167 million dollars, with which they finance their criminal activities as result of the sale of illicit drugs on the international illegal markets, were prevented from entering the organized armed groups and residual organized armed groups.
In addition, during August, the Colombian Navy has managed to find more than eight tons of narcotics in the South Pacific.
Source: press-Navy of Colombia
