With the dismantling of a coca base paste production laboratory, belonging to the Organized Armed Group, GAO-r, First Structure, the distribution of cocaine doses is prevented, at a cost of half a million dollars.
The Fourth Division of the National Army, through troops of the Twenty-second Jungle Brigade, in coordination with the Anti-Narcotics Police, dismantled in San José del Guaviare, a laboratory that produced coca base paste. This operation harms the illicit economy of the Residual organized Armed Group, GAO-r, Structure Primera, which commits crimes in the south of the department of Meta and in the north of Guaviare.
The Infantry Battalion No. 19 Joaquín París was in charge of carrying out an intelligence operation, which led to get information on the illegal activity, the discovery, production capacity and exit routes of coca base paste.
After planning this military operation for several months, it was possible for the troops to travel to the Mata Bambú village, in the municipality of Mapiripán, in Meta. There they carried out the military maneuver, with a high level of caution and without being detected by the enemy. They arrived at the site, taking the alleged criminals, responsible for the manufacture of this alkaloid, by surprise.
Two individuals were surprised and captured during the operation, for the crimes of traffic, manufacture or carrying of narcotic drugs and were put into custody of the authority.
During the search, the soldiers found a 240-square-meter wooden structure, where they found more than a ton of solid precursors, such as lime, ammonium sulfate, triple 18 fertilizer and coca leaf. In the same way, the troops found about 400 gallons of liquid precursors, among these, gasoline, diesel, sulfuric acid and coca base paste in process.
This laboratory had the capacity to produce around 100 kilograms of coca base paste monthly, valued at more than 250 million pesos, a lucrative figure for this criminal structure, which received more than 3.5 million dollars annually from drug trafficking income. This means for the Structure significant losses that undermine its ability to act.
The production of this laboratory was clandestinely transported by strategic river routes, such as the Guaviare, Inírida, Vaupés and Aparoris rivers, then they transported the product transformed into cocaine hydrochloride to be shipped inside and outside the country, increasing disputes in the Micro trafficking, a problem that disrupts the security of cities and mainly affects young people in Colombia.
This year, the Army's Fourth Division, through its troops deployed in the departments of Meta, Guaviare and Vaupés, has achieved a significant impact on drug trafficking, the main source of income for organized armed groups, dismantling more than 100 laboratories and illegal warehouses and finding more than 20 tons of solid precursors and approximately 10,000 gallons of liquid precursors, used in the production of coca base paste and cocaine hydrochloride; the above is equivalent to almost 2,000 million pesos.
More than 600 hectares of illicit plantations have in the same way been eradicated, which means 715 soccer fields together. 270 seedbeds with 33 million coca plants have in the same way been removed, which has prevented the planting of nearly 4,000 more hectares, thus hitting the finances of illicit plantations in almost 25,000 million pesos.
Source: National Army news agency
