Two laboratories for the production of illicit substances were destroyed on the Pacific coast, by Colombian Navy troops attached to the Pacific Naval Force, who maintain a heavy operation in this area of the country, against the Organized Armed Groups.
The discovery and subsequent destruction under controlled conditions was carried out in parallel during two operations. The first operation was carried out jointly by troops of the navy Infantry Fluvial Battalion No.24, attached to the navy Infantry Brigade No.2 and the National Army, in the sector known as El Guachal on the San Juan Coast, in Chocó. There it was possible to find a coca base paste production laboratory, with about 50 gallons of gasoline, 80 gallons of coca base paste and 50 kilograms of solid precursors, including urea, used for the illicit production of narcotic drugs. As it could be established, this laboratory would belong to the Ernesto Che Guevara front of the Organized Armed Group, GAO, Eln.
The second laboratory was found in the San Pedro stream, an area of the Naya river in Buenaventura, in Valle del Cauca, during a search and territorial control operation, where troops of the navy Infantry River Battalion No.24, found an illegal infrastructure of the Residual Armed Group Structure-30, in which coca base paste was processed. In the middle of the operation, 492 gallons of liquid precursors and 50 kilograms of solid precursors were in the same way found, including gasoline, cement, chopped coca leaf and lime.
The laboratories and the material were destroyed in accordance with established procedures. With the destruction of these structures, which become the first phase for the production of cocaine hydrochloride, large sums of money were prevented from entering the criminal groups, as a result of the commercialization of drug production in the international illegal market.
This year, the Pacific Naval Force has managed to find and destroy 18 laboratories in this area of the country.
Source: press - Colombian Navy
