Within the framework of the National Government's international cooperation agreements, a combined, joint and coordinated operation was carried out conducted by the Colombian Navy, the Spanish Civil Guard, the National Army and the Attorney General's Office, which led to the dismantling of a transnational drug trafficking organization made up of 12 members who were arrested in the departments of Cauca and Valle del Cauca.
The simultaneous operation was carried out in the city of Santiago de Cali and in the Special District of Buenaventura, in the department of Valle del Cauca; and in the municipality of Santander de Quilichao in the department of Cauca, where the troops of the Navy Infantry Brigade No.2 of the Colombian Navy, of the Special Forces Battalion No.3 and the Military Police Battalion No.3 of the National Army and personnel of the Specialized Directorate against Drug Trafficking of the Technical Investigation Corps of the Prosecutor's Office, arrested the 12 individuals in their homes, in compliance with arrest orders issued by the Specialized Prosecutor's Office No.16 from Cali.
The dismantled drug trafficking organization specialized in the construction of semi-submarines to transport cocaine hydrochloride to Central America and Europe, especially to Spanish ports. In the same way, apparently it was a pioneer in the migration of the construction of semi-submarines to different countries in the region on the Atlantic coast, including Brazil and Guyana.
Among those arrested are the individuals alias Pulga and alias Iván, ringleaders of the organization and international links for the construction of semi-submarines, both nationally and internationally, and the individual alias Bernardo, in charge of the financial part and the marketing of cocaine with drug trafficking structures in Europe and Central America.
The 12 detainees committed crimes mainly in the Special District of Buenaventura, from where they coordinated the logistics to move their construction structure to coastal areas in the departments of Cauca and Nariño, where they constricted their clandestine shipyards for the construction of semi-submarines at the service of different drug trafficking organizations.
Those arrested were put into custody of the Technical Investigation Staff of the Attorney General's Office for prosecution for crimes associated to drug trafficking. The Delegate for Criminal Finances of the Prosecutor's Office, imposed measures of seizure with the purpose of extinguishing the right of ownership to 20 of her properties, commercial premises and 15 vehicles that would cost more than five billion pesos.
Source: Press - Navy of Colombia
