During last week, more than nine tons of tin were found by troops, valued at more than 1,000 million pesos.
Through joint, coordinated and inter-institutional military operations conducted by soldiers of the Twenty-Eighth Brigade, a unit of the Eighth Division of the National Army; the Colombian Navy, Colombian Air Force and National Police, focused on environmental protection in the Orinoquia region, so, it was possible to find mineral resources that apparently were being extracted illegally.
In the first operation, thanks to military intelligence information, a truck-type vehicle was circulating through a road control checkpoint in the vicinity of the village of Nueva Colombia, municipality of Cumaribo, Vichada. When the routine check-up was carried out, it was found he had more than seven tons of a metal, which had physical characteristics resembling tin.
The material was found because the transporter did not have the supporting documentation proving the legality of the mineral; subsequently, it was put into custody of the authorities.
In addition to the above, in another action, on the La 14 sector, in Vichada, more than two tons of a material that apparently would in the same way be tin, which was traveling in a van, were found by troops; the transporter in the same way did not provide the authorities with documents on the origin and legality of the material.
It is of great importance to highlight the environmental damage caused by the illicit extraction of mining deposits, since the generation of salts and gases contaminates the waters in which this practice is carried out, taking into account that in all its production phases the use of water resources is necessary; it should be noted that there are other factors that damage the environment and the well-being of human life.
Source: Press, Eighth Division of the National Army
