This year, nine machines used for the illicit extraction of mining deposits have been found.
The Colombian Navy, during a joint operation with the National Army and the Colombian Air Force, coordinated with the National Police and coordinated with the Attorney General's Office, dealt a severe blow to criminal organizations at the service of the illicit exploitation of mining deposits on the banks of the San Juan River, department of Chocó.
This operation was made possible thanks to the coordinated work of the Military Forces and the permanent work of their units on the San Juan River and its tributaries, with a River Task Group, made up of a Heavy Support Patrol Boat, a river patrol boat, a combat element, a platoon of the National Army and with aerial images by the Colombian Air Force, and with the support of the National Police and the Attorney General's Office.
During the operation was possible to find and subsequently destroy four bulldozers, 12 units of mining and recover four hectares beaten by this problem; this mitigates the environmental damage in the native forest that suffered deforestation, displacement of wildlife, pollution of water sources and damage the soil and subsoil due to this illicit activity.
With the neutralization of this machinery, valued at approximately $1.600.000.000 COP, troops prevent an monthly unlawful income of up to $4.120.000.000 COP, that would have benefited the Organized Armed Group, GAO, ELN, in the form of extortive fee for extraction permissions, financing and purchase of the gold mined.
It should be highlighted that illegal mining is one of the major sources of environmental pollution in the colombian Pacific, is done without any type of control or consideration for the ecosystem, the toxic elements such as mercury, used for the extraction of gold, are disposed of indiscriminately close to sources of water or communities, which poses a high risk to the flora and fauna of the region, because it generates an extensive degradation of the environment, and causes adverse effects that may persist for several decades after the cessation of mining activities.
Source: Press - Navy of Colombia
