Three dredgers and two laboratories were found by troops in this operation in which the differential resources of both countries were deployed to continue fighting illegality.
Within the framework of operations within the Ayacucho Joint Strategic Campaign Plan, in the waters of the Putumayo River, the Military Forces of Colombia and Peru, joined together to launch an operation against the illicit exploitation of mining deposits and drug trafficking in the Amazonas region of both countries.
The 26th Brigade of Colombian National Army and the Naval Force of the Amazon of the Navy, in an exercise of interoperability of Forces with the Peruvian Navy, sailed along the Putumayo River in the vicinity of the areas of Puerto Alegr铆a, El Encanto, Puerto Arica and Tarapac谩, in whose rural areas, according to binational intelligence information, criminals would be carrying out their illegal activities.
After checking the points, the Military Forces found two laboratories for the production of coca base paste. In places, distant from each other, the authorities found more than 1,300 gallons of drugs in process. In the same way, about 100 kilos of solid precursors, about 300 gallons of liquid precursors, as well as precursors, materials and equipment used for the production of the drug.
According to preliminary information, in these two laboratories, which would apparently belong to Structure 48 of the so-called Comandos de Frontera of the Second Marquetalia of the FARC dissidents, they would have the capacity to produce at least 3 tons of coca paste base per month.
In the same work of the military operation, the Military Forces found two dredgers and elements that were used for the illegal exploitation of mining deposits which were doing serious damage to the flora, fauna and water sources of the area.
The troops found the machinery on the waters of the Putumayo River, where they used, indiscriminately and without any kind of control or care for the environment, chemicals such as mercury, cyanide, sulfuric acid and solvents to separate the minerals of the soil and the mud, generating serious damage to this important tributary so vital for the subsistence of the riverside communities.
According to the authorities' report, the value of the gold that was extracted illegally was almost five billion pesos per month, which entered the illegal finances of Structure 48 of the so-called Comandos de Frontera of the Second Marquetalia of the FARC dissidents.
With this important binational operation, the military forces weaken the logistical and criminal resources of this organized armed group by more than 18 billion COP. In the same way, the environmental damage that they were generating on the rainforest and the Putumayo River is controlled and stopped.
Source: Strategic Communications General Command of the military forces
