This substructure aims to spread the criminal tentacles in Panama.
In recent days, significant results have been achieved, thanks to the combination of efforts conducted by Colombia and Panama, which have led to multilateral operations framed in the Military and Police Campaign “Agamemnon II” and the Binational Sub-campaign “Darién-Escudo”, which seeks to combat the presence of organized armed groups ELN and Clan del Golfo in this important zone of 266 km of border that both nations share.
The coordination of the Military Intelligence provided by the Centers of Fusion of Intelligence against Transnational Threats "CFIAT", that work in the municipalities Metetí in Panama, and Carepa, in Antioquia, support in a timely manner the SENAFRONT Panama units and the Deployment Force Against Transnational Threats FUDAT of Colombia. All of this in military operations against these organized armed groups that commit crimes in that area.
In previous days, troops of the National Border Service of Panama found a camp area and killed a member of the Efrén Vargas Gutiérrez substructure of the GAO Clan del Golfo in El Oso, Panama, in the course of military operations.
In this camp area troops found two AK-47 rifles, three pistols, abundant ammunition of different calibers, military accessories and communications equipment, used by this GAO with the purpose of controlling drug trafficking routes, intimidate, threaten kill the civilians of this border region and attack on the troops of both nations.
In the second joint, coordinated, interinstitutional and multilateral operation of the Colombian Military Forces and the National Police, by exchange of military intelligence information conducted by the two nations, it was possible the death in development of military operations of Alias “Tapia” or “Boca de Pato”, armed ringleader of the Efrén Vargas Gutiérrez substructure of the GAO Clan del Golfo, in an operation carried out in the Titumate village, in Unguía, in the department of Chocó; In the place, war material was seized.
This individual had an arrest warrant for the crime of aggravated conspiracy to commit murder, issued by the second specialized court of Medellín, in the department of Antioquia.
Source: Deployment Force against Transnational Threats