Two cocaine labs have been destroyed in Colombia’s southwestern state of Cauca and over 810 kilos of processed drugs were seized in an anti-narcotics police operation, reported local media.
In a victory for the operation, code named, “Republic 42,” members of Colombia’a anti-narcotics police dismantled two cocaine laboratories located in the villages of Aguablanca and Comedulce, in the municipality of Suarez, Cauca.
Officials said the sites consisted of fifteen hastily made plastic buildings with wooden floors and tin roofs, in which the drugs were processed.
Within the site itself, 810 kilos of cocaine were seized, along with 64 kilos of coca base, used to make pure cocaine, and a further 600 kilos of calcium chloride, another “precursor chemical” used to make cocaine.
The seized drugs were subjected to a preliminary identification test which showed positive results for cocaine, a source told Colombian daily, El Heraldo.
The drugs were said to have a street value in excess of $1.5 m, and allegedly both the drugs and the laboratories were controlled by the Jacobo Arenas mobile column of the FARC, Colombia’s largest guerrilla group.
The anti-narcotics division also found that the drug belongs to a drug trafficking organization based in northern Cauca with ties to Mexican gangs. It is believed that the drugs would have been transported up Cauca’s coast in speedboats or semi-submersible submarines, reported Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.
Sources
- Destruyen dos complejos cocaleros en el Cauca (El Heraldo)
- Destruidos dos complejos cocaleros en el Cauca (El Tiempo)