With this neutralization, the finances of the dissident group of the former FARC, Iván Ríos, were hit by more than two million dollars and the trafficking of about eight tons of narcotics was prevented.
During 2021 and so far in 2022, 43 semi-submarine-type naval devices have been found.
In the course of a river operation carried out by the Colombian Navy jointly with the National Army in the rural area of Tumaco - Nariño, it was possible to find and neutralize an illegal rudimentary shipyard-type infrastructure, where two semi-submarine naval devices that would be used to traffic approximately eight tons of narcotic substances to Central America.
Units of the Navy Infantry Brigade No.4 with the support of troops of the Anti-Drug Trafficking Battalion No.4, conducted the military operation of search and control of territory in the municipality of San Jacinto, at the mouth of the Mira River where they found the illegal shipyard of 380 square meters, used by the dissident group of the FARC, Iván Ríos under the criminal command of alias Uriel, for the construction of semi-submarines in the Colombo – Ecuadorian border area, an action that is contrary to Law 1311 of 2009 which punishes "anyone who finances, builds, stores, markets, transports, acquires or uses a semi-submarine or submarine without the permission of the authority”.
Within the infrastructure, two 25-meter-long naval devices with the capacity to transport up to four tons of narcotics each were found by troops. The first semi submarine was 80 percent under construction and the second was fully completed and ready to transport illicit drugs, which would be destined for drug trafficking cartels in Mexico.
A boat, communication equipment and different tools used for the manufacture of these illegal means of maritime transport were in the same way seized at the scene. No arrests occurred during the operation; the material was destroyed in accordance to established protocols.
Source: Press - Navy of Colombia
