In the frame of military operations against drug trafficking, the First Brigade of Colombian National Army found and dismantled a cocaine production megalaboratory in Boyacá and arrested an alleged financial ringleader of a dissident criminal structure in Sogamoso, thanks to joint intelligence work of the military operation.
Troops of the Infantry Battalion No. 1 General Simón Bolívar, attached to the First Brigade of Colombian National Army, in coordination with the Anti-Narcotics Directorate of the National Police and the Intelligence Battalion No. 2, dismantled a large-scale laboratory for the production of cocaine hydrochloride in the village of Balcones, municipality of Santamaría, Boyacá.
During the intervention, 817 kilograms of solid cocaine hydrochloride and 220 gallons in liquid state were found by troops, in addition to chemical precursors used for the preparation of narcotics, which would cost approximately 8,770 million pesos. Thanks to this operation, drug trafficking structures were prevented from continuing with the production of this illicit substance, significantly damaging their finances and criminal capacity. In the same way, the laboratory and the material were destroyed in controlled conditions by specialized personnel.
In the second operation, in the urban area of Sogamoso, the Military Gaula (Anti-Extortion and Anti-Kidnapping Group) Boyacá, in coordination with the Sijín Deboy and the Gaula (Anti-Extortion and Anti-Kidnapping Group), reported the arrest of an alleged key member of the criminal structure Jhonier Arenas, of the Manuel Marulanda Vélez Amazonas Bloc, belonging to the dissidents led by alias Ivan Mordisco. This individual, known as alias el Flaco, was surprised by the authorities in the commercial area of the city of Sogamoso. According to intelligence information, he would be responsible for coordinating the logistics and finances of that criminal structure in the departments of Guaviare, Caquetá and Amazonas; he was in Boyacá with the purpose of expanding criminal support networks and collecting information to execute extortion as a method of terrorist financing.
This arrest represents a powerful blow against the organization's illicit finances, by neutralizing a source that may generate more than 1,200 million pesos for criminal activities. The arrested man was put into custody of the authorities, who are carrying out the corresponding investigations.
Source: Press – First Brigade
