Troops from the 25th Infantry Battalion dismantled illegal refineries that produced 500 billion pesos a month.
In military operations, framed in Artemisa operation, for the protection of water, biodiversity and natural resources, soldiers of the Twenty-Seventh Brigade, unit attached to The Sixth Division of the National Army, in a coordinated work with the CTI (Technical Investigations Corps) of the Attorney General Office, destroyed three rudimentary refineries used for the illegal hiding of fuels.
This place was in San Pablo, in the municipality of Villagarzón, Putumayo. There, a valve was sealed with the intervention of the Gran Tierra Energy crews, and Corpoamazonia also made an assessment of the environmental damage that would have been caused by the members of the residual Organized Armed Group (GAO-r) Estructura 1, who have interference in this area of the department.
In this operation against illegal activities and for environmental protection, three “marcianos” with a capacity of 5,000 gallons of petroleum each, two pools with a storage capacity of 15,000 gallons, 250 meters of galvanized pipe for the distillation of petroleum, 3,000 meters of plastic hose and six barrels with a capacity of 1,000 liters were found.
Similarly, approximately 11,800 gallons of petroleum and 2,650 gallons of concentrated petroleum were recovered. Thus, the criminal group is directly affected in about 500 million pesos, by destroying all the machinery with which the hydrocarbon was processed, which means saving the Quebrada Oroyaco, a stream that received daily sediments and solids without any kind of control. This stream cannot be used by the inhabitants of the sector, due to the contamination it has.
This result reduces the environmental impact in 6 hectares of the area where this fuel exploitation unit was found, whose recovery for environmental damage will take approximately five years.
Source: National Army News Agency
