The Naval and Fluvial Campaign against drug trafficking, known in Colombia as "Orión II", counted on the participation of 17 bordering countries and included the execution of combined operations simultaneously from October 1 to October 30, 2018. These operations were carried out in the maritime and fluvial borders organized in three sectors: Antilles, Pacific and South Caribbean, and Amazonas, managing to close the border areas to the transnational crime of drug trafficking.
During this successful campaign it was possible to find 27.2 tons of cocaine, 5.6 tons of marijuana, 3.8 tons of solid precursors, 672 kilos of coca base paste and 12,839 gallons of liquid precursors. Similarly, the operations led to the capture of 143 drug traffickers and the seizure of nearly one and a half million dollars, equivalent to more than 4,600 million pesos.
The operations focused on combating drug trafficking in the geographical areas under the zones of each of the participating countries and in international waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean, the South Caribbean Sea and the Amazonas region, through the integration of resources, capabilities and intelligence of the 17 countries, in order to deny transnational criminal organizations the use of these border regions for drug trafficking.
Participants of the National Navy of Colombia, the Military Forces in the French Antilles, French Customs, the Navy of Brazil, the Federal Police of Brazil, the National Coast Guard Service of Costa Rica, the Navy of Ecuador, the Naval Force of Salvador, the Interagency Joint Task Force of the South of the United States, the Navy of the United States, the Coastguard Service of the United States of America, the Secretary of the Navy of the United States of Mexico, the National Police of Spain, the Navy of the National Defense of Guatemala, the Naval Force of Honduras, the Coastguard Service of the Dutch Caribbean, the Coastguard Service of Jamaica, the Naval Force of the Army of Nicaragua, the National Aeronaval Service of Panama, the Navy of Peru, the Navy of the Dominican Republic, and the Coastguard Service of Trinidad and Tobago.
Within the objectives of the campaign it was possible to increase drug trafficking coverage and control in the region, thanks to the resources and capacities of the participating countries, directly harming the drug trafficking value chain and denying the use of territorial waters to transnational criminal organizations in each of the countries of the region, thanks to the maritime and fluvial interdiction operation against narcotics trafficking in the areas of the southern Caribbean Sea, the eastern Pacific Ocean and the Amazonas.
The success of this campaign was the result of the excellent relations of Colombia with other countries, especially the brotherhood existing among the navies and Coast Guard services of the countries of all America, with open spaces of dialogue and exchange of information that have been generated with the 17 countries of the region.
Source: National Navy
