Nearly half a ton of cocaine hydrochloride, 585 million pesos in cash, and communication equipment, including radios, antennas, and satellite cell phones, were seized by authorities in the department of Arauca, approximately one kilometer from the border with Venezuela.
During the military operation two subjects, a Colombian and a Venezuelan, were captured.
The events occurred in the sector known as Sabanas de la Esmeralda, a rural area of the municipality of Cravo Norte to the south of the department of Arauca on the border with Vichada, where, according to naval intelligence, criminal organizations at the service of drug trafficking are using the rural roads of this area to evade authorities, for the purpose of transporting narcotics, weapons and cash.
At the scene, the occupants of two camper-type vehicles that were moving through the sector, upon noticing the presence of the authorities, fled, for which an operation was launched to capture them.
When carrying out the verification of the vehicles, 17 packages were found with 500 rectangular packages inside, as well as a backpack with abundant cash, a handmade shotgun-type weapon and different communication equipment such as radios, satellite telephones, antennas, chargers, batteries, among other elements.
The hallucinogen, together with the cash, the captured personnel and the rest of the seized material, were made available to the Technical Investigation Corps – CTI and transferred aboard an Air Force aircraft to Puerto Carreño – Vichada, where they were they carried out the corresponding technical tests that confirmed that they were 498.7 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride and 585 million Colombian pesos.
According to the initial investigation, it is presumed that this cache would belong to a drug trafficking structure associated with members of the residual Organized Armed Group “Segunda Marquetalia” who commit crimes in this area of the country and would have Venezuela as an intermediate destination, from where it would later be sent to international illegal markets. of the United States and Europe.
It is estimated that about 1.2 million doses of cocaine stopped circulating on the streets of the world, impacting the logistical and financial structures of this criminal organization, which will not receive more than 16 million dollars in its coffers, which they would have obtained later. of its commercialization in the international illegal market.
The Colombian Navy participated in this operation with the support of the Colombian Air Force, the National Army and the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation.
Source: National Army