In the framework of Operation Artemisa, which seeks to mitigate the damage to the environment, this result was possible, which led to heavily hit the finances of the armed groups that commit crimes in the south of the department.
Troops of the Third Division of the National Army working jointly with the Colombian Air Force, in coordination with the National Police with the CTI (Technical Investigations Corps) of the Prosecutor's Office, achieve one of the most decisive blows against illegal mining so far this year in the department of Cauca, exactly in the village of Cajamarca, municipality of Mercaderes.
In this operation it was possible the destruction of five backhoes used for the illegal exploitation of mineral deposits and the neutralization of two more, this thanks to the operation of groups specialized in explosive devices, who were accompanied by military of the Mobile Police Antiriot Squad and troops of the High Mountain Battalion No.4.
Five aircraft transported the military that participated in this important operation that had the purpose of counteracting this crime that hits the environment; the destroyed machines would cost about three billion pesos.
According to the first information given by military intelligence, this machinery would be used by the organized armed group Eln, front Manuel Vásquez Castaño, to receive every month more than one billion pesos, money that would be intended to increase their illicit activities and strengthen their armed operations in southwestern Colombia.
Source: National Army
