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EFE | THE COUNTRY | Bogota
Authorities seized more than two tons of cocaine transported in a semi-submersible that was sailing in the Colombian Pacific and detained a Mexican, an Ecuadorian and a Colombian, military sources reported Tuesday.
The Navy explained in a statement that the operation was carried out at a time when the device was traveling 35 nautical miles from the sector known as Bocana Amarales, in the department of Nariño, on the border with Ecuador.
The drug, which belonged to a group of FARC dissidents known as “United Guerrillas of the Pacific”, was going to be delivered in Mexico to cartels from that country.
“After several minutes of persecution, the naval device that was destined for the Mexican coasts was detained by the units of the Colombian Navy,” the information detailed.
The semi-submersible and the cocaine were transferred to the town of Tumaco, in Nariño.
The three detainees were placed under the orders of the authorities for the alleged crimes of “trafficking, manufacture or possession of narcotics and, also, for construction, marketing and / or possession of semi-submersibles or aggravated submersibles.
Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo said yesterday that Colombia has eradicated more than 98 thousand hectares of coca, which has already exceeded the total achieved last year, which was 94 thousand 670 hectares, and also highlighted that cocaine seizures have been increased by 13%.
Trujillo also highlighted that as of October 15, the actions of the authorities have allowed the dismantling of 4,215 laboratories in which illicit drugs were processed.
He also said that in terms of interdiction, cocaine seizures increased by 13% this year, since 388 tons have been seized between January 1 and October 15, compared to the same period in 2019.
Along these lines, he assured that marijuana seizures have also increased by 38%, going from 310 tons in 2019 to 427 in 2020.
