About 1500 anti-personnel mines, ready to be used in terrorist attacks in the rural area of the municipality of Puerto Guzmán, were found by troops and destroyed by the anti-explosive group of the Rapid Deployment Force No. 6 (FUDRA 6).
Thanks to military intelligence work, Colombian National Army has dealt two powerful blows to the criminal structures operating in this part of the country, by finding and neutralizing two illegal hiding places with anti-personnel mines. These devices were intended to be planted in the departments of Putumayo, Caquetá, Amazonas and Cauca, and represent a serious threat to human rights and a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.
In the first operation, an illegal hideout was found with 1014 improvised explosive devices, hidden underground, inside a container. These devices had additional traps designed to be activated in case of intervention by the Military Forces. One of them had an explosive capacity of 21 kilograms, ready to detonate at any attempt to deactivate.
This explosive material was found in the village of Alto Afán, municipality of Mocoa, Putumayo, in the middle of a dense rainforest area. The proximity of the hiding place to the inhabitants prevented its destruction on the spot, so it was taken to a safe place for controlled destruction.
In the second military operation, carried out in the village of Villa Catalina La Torre, municipality of Puerto Guzmán, Putumayo, another illegal hiding place was found and destroyed, this time with 460 anti-personnel mines, ready to be planted in the Amazonas region, with the potential to seriously hit men, women and children in the south of the country.
According to preliminary information, these elements belonged to the so-called Comandos de Frontera and the Raúl Reyes Structure, criminal organizations that had hidden the devices in these places before the intensification of military operations. These practices, increasingly frequent, reflect the fear of being detected. It is important to highlight that this operation constitutes a violation of international humanitarian law, since it seeks to intimidate the inhabitants, attack the Military Forces and hit the constructions of the State.
Source: National Army - Sixth Division
