During the year, there are already 79 individuals arrested for this crime.
Troops of the Eighth Brigade of the National Army in coordination with the Carabineros Police, SIJIN (judicial police), Attorney General of the Nation and the Environmental Corporation of Caldas (Corpocaldas), arrested in flagrante eight people for the crime of illegal exploitation of mining deposits, who used a cubic type system for the extraction of alluvial gold.
In the village El Bosque of the municipality of Neira, Caldas, in a coordinated and inter-institutional decisive operation against illegal mining, soldiers of Infantry Battalion No.22 Batalla de Ayacucho and other authorities, arrived in the place where the gold was extracted.
In addition to this, there are two electric cranes, two motors, a submarine motor pump, two washing motor pumps, a washing trough with crawler mesh of rudimentary manufacture and 100 meters of hose, material that would cost more than 27 million pesos.
The illegal exploitation of minerals in this municipality in the north of Caldas, has been carried out without having the environmental license stipulated in Law 685 of 2001 of the Mining Code, which has hit not only the natural resources, but the well-being and safety of those who inhabit the area.
With this result, it was possible to reduce the environmental impact on a square hectare without loss of vegetation cover and the contamination of water sources that flow into the Cauca River, it is noteworthy that the approximate value that is invested for the recovery of environmental damage is approximately 150 million pesos and could take 20 or 30 years.
The Eighth Brigade, judicial and environmental authorities, continue to monitor the mining realities of the Caldense territory, the implementation of alternatives to counteract all practices of contamination of the water resource, the loss of plants and human lives.
Source: Press - Eighth Brigade of the National Army
