Colombian authorities have seized 176 tons of cocaine in the first quarter of this year, which means 31.8% more than in the same period last year, official sources reported this Tuesday.
“These blows are the result of the Government’s policy of persecuting large multi-crime organizations and not the peasant farmers who produce coca leaves,” the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
These are the figures, actions against drug traffickers have allowed the seizure of 176 tons of cocaine, 42 more than in the same period in 2023.
The largest seizure this year was a cache of 3.3 tons of cocaine that was transported on a boat in the archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, in the Caribbean Sea, the Navy reported today.
This action involved the collaboration of the Joint Interagency Task Force of the United States Southern Command. The illicit drugs were transported in a speedboat.
In addition, the Anti-Narcotics Police seized about 1.7 tons of cocaine in the seaport of Santa Marta, which were in a load of avocados, ready to be sent to Portugal.
The Police reported last Monday that during port inspections, 1,680 rectangular packages were found hidden in the baskets in which the avocados are packed and then taken to the export containers.
On the other hand, last February, during a search and rescue operation for two missing fishermen in Tumaco, in the southwest of the country, the Navy located a semi-submersible 18 meters long and three meters wide, when it was transporting more than four tons of cocaine.
The units of the Colombian Navy carried out the maritime interdiction procedure, finding four men and 205 packages of different sizes in the device.
The operation was carried out in conjunction with the Ecuadorian Navy, which also participated in the search and rescue operation. EFE