This substance is used in the production of cocaine hydrochloride and belonged to the residual organized armed group Segunda Marquetalia Structura Comandos de Frontera.
Within the framework of the Ayacucho Plus Campaign Plan and within the framework of military operations aimed at weakening the logistical and financial resources of the residual organized armed groups that commit crimes in the department of Putumayo, troops of the Field Artillery Battalion No. 27 of the Twenty-Seventh Brigade of Colombian National Army, in coordination with units of the Amazon Regional Intelligence of the National Navy and the Anti-Narcotics Directorate of the National Police, they find and neutralize a place intended for the storage and production of potassium permanganate.
The operation was carried out in the village of La Paila, a rural area of the municipality of Puerto Asís, where the troops found this illegal construction that, according to intelligence and field review work, would belong to the residual organized armed group Segunda Marquetalia, the socalled National Coordination of the Bolivarian Army, Walter Mendoza faction, or Comandos de Frontera structure.
During the procedure, the illicit production of potassium permanganate was prevented from continuing with the seizure of approximately 12 tons of this chemical precursor, two metal boilers, two blowers and 460 plastic containers of different dimensions used for the storage and handling of substances used in illicit activities.
Potassium permanganate is an oxidizing agent in the production process of cocaine hydrochloride, a substance that is difficult to obtain, since it is a chemical of controlled use in the country. However, groups outlaw illegally use it as a fundamental precursor in the production of cocaine hydrochloride, which makes it a key link within the drug trafficking chain.
Through this result of the military operation it was possible to significantly strike the criminal finances of this illegal structure, generating losses estimated at more than 495 million pesos, resources that were destined to sustain their criminal activities and strengthen their logistical capacity; through this important result and the elimination of the structure used for the extraction of the substance, the potential production of more than six tons of cocaine was prevented.
Source: Press – Sixth Division
