On the Pur茅 River, the authorities found 16 dredgers that were causing serious environmental damage to the flora and fauna of the area with the indiscriminate dumping of chemicals.
Within the framework of military operations framed within the Joint Strategic Campaign Plan Ayacucho -Tiempo 2 - the Military Forces of Colombia and Brazil neutralized a giant mining complex which was damaging water sources and generating a serious deterioration to the ecosystem of the Amazonas region.
Troops of the 26th Brigade of Colombian National Army, the Amazon Coast Guard Group of the Navy and the Air Force in a binational operation with the 16th Rainforest Brigade of Brazil, found a sector where criminals were predating a large part of the wooded area with the use of backhoes and chainsaws generating irreparable damage through indiscriminate deforestation. This illegal maneuver was carried out to make way for dredgers who, through the use of chemicals such as cyanide and mercury, were looking for gold in the area regardless of the damage to the environment.
The place was found, and after a Regional Military Exchange Meeting (RRIM), conducted by Brazil and Colombia, plans and interoperability of forces were synchronized and that was how a major operation was launched to stop this ecocide.
By river and air, the Military Forces arrived at the place in the border area of the two countries in the Amazon region on the Pur茅 River where 16 dredgers and five backhoes were found by troops that were carrying out illicit exploitation of mining deposits extracting about six kilograms of gold per month which was traded in illegal markets.
The authorities of both countries are investigating to which group or transnational group this machinery would belong since at the time of the judicial procedure the people in charge of operating this illegal mining facility fled the sector; at this time troops were deployed to search for them.
This important result of the military operation leads to a significant blow to criminal finances and to stop the serious damages that were being generated to the rainforest, to water sources, as well as to the flora and fauna of this protected area of both countries so important for the generation of oxygen and biodiversity.
Source: CGFM Strategic Communications
