With the support of the other Military Forces, the Police, the Attorney General's Office and the civil authorities, these important results were possible.
The troops of the Eighth Division of the National Army in heavy military operations that took place in this year 2021, together with the other branches, coordinated with the National Police and inter agency with the office of the Prosecutor General of the Nation, presented a positive report with results in the departments of Casanare, Arauca, Vichada, Guain铆a, and the municipalities of Cubar谩, Pisba, and Paya, in Boyac谩, Samore and Toledo in Norte de Santander, which correspond to the territories assigned to this unit.
These operations are carried out with the assistance of the early warnings of the control bodies, permanently supported by the civic participation network and they also have as their objective the dismantling of organized armed groups and the neutralization of the factors of instability in our country.
So, this year, 613 arrests were made in all the departments under our responsibility, 58 were members of the GAO ELN, 93 members of the (GAO-r) residual Organized Armed Groups, 34 of the GAO Clan del Golfo, 35 of the organized criminal groups and 393 individuals belonging to common criminality groups.
24 members of the organized armed groups committing crimes in this part of the country voluntarily surrendered to the military authorities and took advantage of the benefits provided by the National Government. Six of these members belonged to the ELN and 18 to the residual GAO-r Organized Armed Groups. In the same way this year, nine minors who were forcibly recruited were recovered.
This year, the troops of the Eighth Division have destroyed 192 improvised explosive devices in the fight against the deadly traps planted by members of organized armed groups.
It was possible to find 125 handguns, 13 long rifles, an accompanying weapon and more than 53 thousand ammunition of different calibers.
Military operations to combat the drug trafficking problem led to the destruction of 22 coca hydrochloride and coca base paste laboratories, with more than 495 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride, 16,954 gallons of liquid precursors and more than six thousand solid precursors.
On the other hand, and in order to stop the damages caused to the ecosystem by the misuse of natural resources, the soldiers of the Eighth Division of the National Army through all of the Units, and along with institutions, local government and the civilians, planted 134,798 native trees in rural areas of our departments, recovered 151,85 m3 of wood and 175 animals of wildlife that would be marketed illegally.
