The Colombian Navy, through the Caribbean Naval Force, through joint, coordinated and inter-institutional operations, with Colombian National Army, the Colombian Aerospace Force, the National Police and the Attorney General's Office, has maintained a sustained operation against the Organized Armed Group, GAO, Clan del Golfo, consolidating important achievements in the dismantling of its criminal structures, in the Greater Colombian Caribbean.
So far this year, these operations have led to the arrest of 139 members of this criminal organization, including eight high-ranking ringleaders in the criminal structure. During the operations, 10 firearms, including three assault rifles, and approximately 4,000 pieces of ammunition, of different calibers, have in the same way been found.
One of the most representative results was the finding of an illegal weapons hideout in San Onofre, department of Sucre, in which three M-15 type rifles, 19 magazines, garments for exclusive use of the Military Forces, accessories and more than 900 rifle cartridges were found by troops.
Colombian Navy is constant in its operation against GAO Clan del Golfo in the Caribbean
In addition, more than 57 tons of cocaine hydrochloride and approximately 9.5 tons of marijuana have been found, representing an economic damage of more than 11 billion pesos to the financial structures of the drug trafficking groups. This is complemented by the finding of contraband merchandise valued commercially, at about nine billion pesos, which powerfully weakens the sources of illicit financing of these criminal organizations.
These operations have been directed against key substructures of this criminal organization, such as the so-called Manuel José Gaitán, Erlín Pino Duarte and Nicolás Antonio Urango Reyes, directly impacting their criminal influence against the inhabitants. In addition, the arrests of ringleaders such as alias "Dago”, “Benjamín” and "Charly", have dismantled the chain of command, and hit the criminal control over strategic routes of mobility and production of illicit substances, significantly compromising the coercive capacity of the GAO Clan del Golfo in the Caribbean.
As a result of these powerful blows, this organization has tried to react in a cowardly and criminal way, attacking the lives of the crew members of the Caribbean Naval Force, the main one hit was the Professional Navy man Armando José Arrieta Pontón, in the city of Sincelejo. At the end of last week, five individuals were arrested who had allegedly executed these attacked, who are currently in the process of being prosecuted by the authorities for their actions as alleged hitmen of the Clan del Golfo.
These results of the military operation represent a tangible benefit for the inhabitants, since by weakening the criminal structure of the Clan del Golfo, crimes such as extortion, kidnapping, forced displacement and illegal recruitment of minors significantly reduced. In the same way, security conditions are restored so protection the return of communities to their territories, free mobility in rural and urban areas, and the revitalization of economic and tourist activities, essential for regional development.
Source: Press – Navy of Colombia
