Four were arrested and more than 400 different calibers of ammunition were found by troops, as well as five rifles and military accessories that were found by troops in an illegal hiding place, apparently belonging to the GAO Clan del Golfo.
Through joint, coordinated and inter-institutional military operations, aligned to the Ayacucho Plan, conducted by troops of the Combat Engineer Battalion No.28, unit of the Twenty-Eighth Brigade of the National Army, the Colombian Navy, the Colombian Air Force, the National Police and the Attorney General's Office, four individuals were arrested who would be members of the Organized Armed Group, GAO, Clan del Golfo.
The operation occurred in the vicinity of the hamlet of Guacacias, municipality of Santa Rosalía, Vichada, while the troops were conducting stability operations on the sector, where three men and one woman were arrested in flagrante delicto, for the alleged crime of manufacturing, trafficking, carrying or possession of firearms, accessories, parts or ammunition. The individuals had with them 2 pistols, 3 magazines, 41 9 mm caliber ammunition, a communications radio and 5 cell phones; in turn, 2 motorcycles on which they were traveling were found by troops.
Those arrested would be collecting money from extortion against of the productive groups of transporters that transit along Route 40 of the department; in the same way, it is believed that their main objective was to take control of this road axis to transport elements for drug trafficking.
Later, in a continuous operation, the soldiers found an illegal hiding place on the village of El Porvenir, where there were 5 rifles, more than 400 ammunition units, 70 magazines, 10 grenades and military accessories material, material that would in the same way be owned by the GAO Clan del Golfo, self-named Gaitanista Self-defense Forces of Colombia, who commit crimes on the sector.
The individuals and the material were put into custody of the authorities.
In total, 5 arrests have been reported against the GAO Clan del Golfo in Vichada during the year, one death in the course of military operations; we also have the finding of 8 long weapons, 2 short weapons, more than 1200 ammunition of different calibers, 81 magazines, 5 motorcycle-type vehicles, military accessories and communications equipment, which frames in the continuous and decisive struggle against this GAO in the department of Vichada.
Source: Press - Eighth Division of the National Army
