Colombian authorities have uncovered 1,500 anti-personnel mines and over 3,000 pounds of explosives in a cache reportedly belonging to Colombia’s largest rebel group, the FARC, national media reported on Monday.
In a joint operation, the Army and the Navy conducted the seizure of the explosives cache, which was highlighted as “the biggest cache of explosives discovered during the work done this year,” according to Barranquilla’s El Heraldo newspaper.
The explosive material was guarded in sacks and covered with plastic in order “to avoid detection,” according to El Heraldo.
Authorities were supplied with information regarding the whereabouts of the cache by a FARC informant in addition to over two months of Navy surveillance, according to Colombia’s W Radio.
The explosives cache, which was discovered in San Jose de Fragua in the southern state of Caqueta, was destroyed in a controlled manner by the authorities.
In this region, the FARC’s 32nd Front is active under the command of alias “Mauricio Caballo.”
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The military accused Mauricio Caballo and the branch of the FARC he commands with installing mine fields in the south of Caqueta.
This unit is also responsible for putting the petroleum infrastructure in the region at risk with “the explosion of oil wells in Puerto Caicedo, Puerto Guzman, and Curillo,” according to El Heraldo.