These illegal structures used for the transformation of stolen petroleum, had inside rudimentary distillers and pools for the storage of petroleum.
Through the continuous development of military area control operations, carried out for the protection of Strategic State resources, National Army troops found five illegal refineries in the rural area of the municipality of Tibú, Norte de Santander, where approximately 30 thousand gallons of petroleum stolen from the Caño Limón Coveñas pipeline were processed to convert it into processed gasoline (pategrillo), an indispensable substance in the production of coca paste base.
In the frame of the Ayacucho Plan, this military operation was carried out in the rural area of the village of Caño Victoria Sur, sector as far as the soldiers of the Ground Operations Battalion No.10, in coordination with the Technical Investigation Staff of the Prosecutor's Office (CTI) found the five illicit refineries, for the distillation of petroleum.
In the same way, six pools (containers) measuring 10 meters long and five meters wide, 36 cube-shaped containers, seven motor pumps, an power generator, 500 meters of four-inch hose, 800 meters of two-inch hose and different materials used to connect the refineries were found by troops at the site.
With this result, the illicit activities of the financial and criminal scaffolding of the Organized Armed Groups that commit crimes in the region are drastically weakened by more than two million dollars. In the same way, troops prevented more environmental damage to the water sources and ecosystems of this Catatumbo region.
After this, the material was destroyed under controlled conditions by the explosives and demolitions team EXDE, without any damage to the environment.
The National Army, will continue to carry out operations to counteract the factors of instability in the department of Norte de Santander, and so protect the Strategic resources of the Nation.
Source: Press – National Army
