The operation thwarted the monthly production of four tons of Coca Paste Base destined for the international markets and also generated an economic loss of more than $1,000 million pesos to this criminal structure.
The Colombian Navy, within the framework of a joint and combined operation aimed at weakening illicit activities in the Colombian Orinoquia region, achieved the finding and destruction of five laboratories used for the production of Coca Base Paste in a rural area of the municipality of Cumaribo, department of Vichada.
The operations were carried out by units of the Navy Infantry River Battalion No. 50, jointly with troops of Infantry Battalion No. 45 of Colombian National Army and coordinated with the National Police, thanks to the coordinated intelligence work of the Military Forces and criminal investigation agencies.
During the procedures, five clandestine structures destined to the production of Coca Base Paste were found by troops and destroyed, which would be used by members of the Residual Organized Armed Group- GAOr, Front 44 Antonio Ricaurte of the Central General Staff.
More than 1,500 gallons of liquid precursors used for the production of illicit substances, including gasoline, diesel, ammonia and caustic soda, were destroyed at the site, as well as more than 2,200 kilograms of solid precursors, including cement, lime, ammonium sulfate, fertilizers and other chemical precursors, in addition to 1,125 kilograms of coca leaf destined for the production of alkaloids.
According to military intelligence work, these illegal complexes would contribute directly to the illicit activities of the 44th Front Antonio Ricaurte, generating revenues close to one billion pesos. In the same way, the destroyed construction would have a capacity to produce approximately four tons of Coca Paste Base per month, of the illicit plantations identified in the area.
Through this result, the Colombian Navy significantly affects the logistical, productive and financial resources of this criminal structure, weakening one of its main sources of illicit financing and reducing its capacity to sustain activities that threaten the security, governance and well-being of communities in the region.
The Colombian Navy, through the Orinoquia Naval Force, will continue to carry out joint, coordinated and inter-institutional operations to neutralize the illegal activities that finance organized armed groups and protect the communities that inhabit the territories of the Colombian Orinoquia.
Source: Press - Navy of Colombia
