This illegal construction was used to process stolen petroleum, and would have a cost of more than 800 million pesos. Rudimentary distillers and deep excavations were found by troops there, called pools, which are used for the storage of petroleum, which generates strong damages to the water sources of the south of the country.
Thanks to the sustained military operations, troops contributed to the protection of the nation's biodiversity and strategic resources.
In one of these operations, the troops of the Twenty-Seventh Rainforest Brigade of Colombian National Army found two illegal fuel refineries and an illegal hiding place, which were found by troops in the rural area of Orito, Putumayo, and were part of the illicit financial system of the Residual Organized Armed Group, GAO-r, Structure 48, Comandos de Frontera.
The operation aimed at neutralizing the illegal appropriation of this resource was carried out simultaneously on the Versalles and El Paraíso villages. There, personnel of the Combat Engineer Battalion No. 27, in joint operations with the National Navy and in coordination with the National Police, and in an inter-institutional manner with the Attorney General's Office, found the refineries that were destined for the illicit distillation of petroleum.
In the refineries, 6 storage pools were found by troops, each one 3 meters long by 6 meters wide; 3 rudimentary distillers, a motor pump, an power generator, 12 plastic barrels, 710 meters of four-inch hose, 975 gallons of processed gasoline (known as pategrillo), 306 meters of metal pipes and other materials used for the connection of the refinery. All the material was destroyed in controlled conditions by the explosives and demolitions team (EXDE) without causing additional damage.
Source: Press – National Army
