These places were used to hide petroleum stolen through illegal valves until reaching improvised wells.
In military operations framed in the Bicentenary Plan Heroes of Freedom and directed to counteract the theft of fuels, troops of the Twenty-Seventh Brigade of the National Army reached the village El Vergel, in the region of the municipality of Piamonte, Cauca, where over the weekend troops found three illegal refineries.
After the search and area control operations, the soldiers of the 25th Infantry Battalion, unit of the Twenty-Seventh Brigade, found the three structures adapted as refineries, which had six pools that were used to hide the petroleum stolen through illegal valves and hoses towards to wells.
The troops found 16,600 gallons of petroleum, 3 “Martians,” which are connected by illegal groups to the pipeline, pipes used to transport the processed petroleum; 8 storage tanks and 350 meters of hose, among other elements used for the production of narcotic drugs.
According to the information obtained by military intelligence, these refineries would belong to the residual Organized Armed Group Structure 48, which after stealing the fuel, would proceed to refine it and use it in the production of narcotic drugs, as the main source of their financing.
It should be noted that by improvising these refineries and conducting the different processes in the midst of the vegetation, the damage caused to the waterways and the environment is irreparable.
Source: National Army News Agency
