It is estimated that the illegal shipyard and the elements found, including a Semi-submarine with the capacity to transport up to 10 tons of Cocaine Hydrochloride, would cost more than three billion pesos.
The combination of strategic resources of Colombian National Army, the Colombian Navy and the Colombian Aerospace Force and several months of follow-up led to the finding in the department of La Guajira.
Naval Intelligence of the Colombian Navy identified that in the middle of the desert in the vicinity of Bahia Hondita in the municipality of Uribia in the department of La Guajira, transnational organizations at the service of the Organized Armed Group, GAO, Clan del Golfo, had hidden a rudimentary shipyard complex for the manufacture of semi-submarines and the transport of them from the arid desert to nearby bodies of water where these were prepared to be loaded with cocaine hydrochloride and through different ships to take the illicit substances on the transatlantic route that includes the eastern Caribbean from Colombia through the Antilles to reach the European continent.
Once the information was confirmed, a robust joint operation was launched in which Colombian Aerospace Force aircraft participated for five sustained days, monitoring the area of the skies and working to ensure the safe entry of troops on the ground. Meanwhile, naval units of the Colombian Navy were positioned in the area of operations, for a real maritime closure. Meanwhile, National Army troops and Navy Infantry units entered by land with decisive maneuvers.
By consolidating the area, it was possible to find a logistics core center for the preparation, supply and projection of means used in the transport of large shipments of narcotics to international markets.
Troops of the First Division of Colombian National Army find a clandestine rudimentary shipyard with the capacity for the construction and adaptation of semi-submarines, where a rifle, a revolver and elements for fiberglass manufacturing, heavy machinery, specialized trailers and logistical elements for the storage and transportation of fuel were found by troops, evidencing the existence of a stable construction for the support of these illicit activities.
At the same time, near the area, Rapid Reaction Units of the Coast Guard, air naval means and Naval men of the Caribbean Naval Force found in a bay that connects with open waters, a semi-submarine ready to be launched into the sea, with an estimated capacity to transport up to 10 tons of drugs, which was equipped with two engines. In addition, they seized a low-profile speedboat with a cargo capacity of close to three tons of illicit substances and propelled by four high-power engines. More than 3,000 gallons of fuel, satellite navigation equipment and communication systems were in the same way found in the area.
Faced with the pressure and deployment of the military operation, these criminal structures abandoned the rudimentary complex that was destroyed in controlled conditions according to the established protocols.
This operation prevents the configuration of the criminal acts and interrupts the ability to transport illicit substances from Colombia to the European continent. Strengthening in this way, the security strategy to deny the use of the national territory, as well as the maritime communication lines to the different transnational threats.
Source: Press - Navy of Colombia
