The illegal activity extracted approximately 4150 grams of gold per month; it would cost 1618 million pesos.
Soldiers of the Special Energy and Road Battalion No. 4, of the Fourth Brigade, in compliance with the Ayacucho Operations Plan, with the objective of weakening the resources of the threat, with the support of the Brigade against Illegal Mining, Specialized Intelligence Battalion No. 2 and the Carabineros and Environmental Protection Section of the National Police, find illegal mining production units.
The operation was carried out in the village of El Ingenio, in the municipality of San Rafael, in the department of Antioquia. There the soldiers and police officers, thanks to intelligence information, found the exact place where several machines were working illegally.
Upon arriving at the site it was possible to find an excavator, 2 diver-type dredgers, 7 motor pumps, a mineral sorter and 1700 gallons of DIESEL. All the material was destroyed on the place in controlled conditions by experts, thus complying with Law 1801 and Decree 1035 for the destruction activity, and subsequently informing the authority of the operations.
This military operation represents a significant blow against the Samaná Peacekeepers Substructure, of the Clan del Golfo, which thus strikes at the illicit activities of this organized armed group, with losses estimated at more than 1600 million pesos, money that is used to strengthen its armed capacity and in this way, attack against the Military Forces and the inhabitants.
In the same way, an environmental damage of more than 6 hectares can be seen, where about 45 thousand cubic meters of soil and subsoil were removed; deforesting approximately 5000 trees and polluting the water tributaries of the region. The recovery time of these ecosystems is estimated to be more than 40 years.
Source: National Army
