The mega operation against the illegal exploitation of mining deposits led to the recovery of more than seven hectares of forest.
Special troops of the National Army's Command Against Drug Trafficking and Transnational Threats CONAT, in a joint operation with the Colombian Air Force, coordinated with the National Police and inter-institutional with the Attorney General's Office, were in the municipality of Magüi Payán, Nariño, to carry out the intervention on ten mining production units, leaving five excavators, five classifiers and an industrial engine unusable; this equipment and material would be used by members of the residual Organized Armed Group GAO-r Structure Ariel Aldana, for the illicit extraction of gold.
After months of constant monitoring by military and police intelligence, the loss of nearly six billion pesos was possible, preventing the production of more than 15 kilograms of gold per month.
In the second operation by the troops of the Hercules Joint Task Force, it was possible to dismantle 20 illegal refineries, which were being used for the distillation of fuels in the village of La Guayacana. In the place it was possible to find more than 98,000 gallons of refined type fuel and more than 133,000 gallons of petroleum type fuel.
In this area of the south-west of the country, deforestation of more than 4,200 trees could be evidenced, a loss to the flora that could take 20 or 30 years to recover.
No arrests were made at the scene of the events, however, the Military Forces will continue to carry out military operations that give a direct attack on this problem that hits the diversity and sustainability of the environment.
Source: Press - Colombian Military Forces
