The Minister of Defense, Holmes Trujillo, stated that thanks to the capacity of the Military Forces, a historic amount of cocaine seizures in Colombia was possible, which complements the fulfillment of the goal of eradicating 130,000 hectares of illicit plantations this year.
“More than 498 tons of cocaine hydrochloride have been seized up to 24 December (17% more compared to the same period of 2019), valued at USD $16,445 million in the U.S. market, and the reduction of more than 1,245 million doses available in the market”, said the Minister. Besides he added that this was the largest operation carried out by the Military Forces, with more than 18,700 men and members of the Mobile Eradication Groups.
He also highlighted that the Military Forces achieved important seizures during this year: 545 tons of coca leaf, 63 tons of cocaine base, 515 tons of marijuana, and 5,447 infrastructure for the production of illicit drugs destroyed.
In the same way, the Minister said that in the course of 2020 the Colombian Navy led the Naval and River Campaigns Against Drug Trafficking Orion V and Orion VI, with the participation of 29 countries.
“We have had success during the VI campaign, with the seizure of 90.7 tons of cocaine hydrochloride, the destruction of 168 infrastructures for the production of illegal drugs, and the seizure of 18.6 tons of marijuana, 3.5 kilograms of heroin and the capture of 413 people”, he highlighted.
At La Perla del Pacífico, Minister Trujillo said that the 130,000 hectares eradicated is an area equivalent to more than 120,370 soccer fields, which is 3.4 times the size of the city of Medellín.
Finally, the minister said that this effort by the Military Forces to cleanse the country of this problem, significantly hit the finances of drug traffickers.
“These 130,000 hectares eradicated are a blow of about 301 million dollars to drug trafficking organizations, taking into account the average price of a hectare of coca, which represents about 115,440 kilos of cocaine”, concluded the Minister.
Source: Communication - Ministry of National Defense
