Navy seizes more than a ton of cocaine in southwest Colombia

(Image credit: AFP)

Colombia’s Defense Ministry said that Police have seized more than than a ton of cocaine in the southwest of the country since Thursday.

The drugs were found in a rural part of Pacific port city of Tumaco, Nariño, the ministry said in a statement.

According to the authorities, more than 600 kilograms of the seized drugs belonged to the Daniel Aldana column, a unit of rebel group FARC that is active in Colombia’s most southwestern tip.

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The drugs, allegedly bound for Central America, were found on board a speed boat that was traveling over the Mira river and heading to the Pacific Ocean.

The remaining 400 kilos were found abandoned in the same area.

The Nariño province where the drug was found is Colombia’s primary producer of coca, the crop used to make cocaine.

The FARC, formed in 1964 to lead a Marxist revolution, has long used drug trafficking as one of its main revenue sources to fund its insurgent army.

Apart from the FARC, a handful of other drug trafficking organization are active in the area.

Colombia produces approximately 90% of the cocaine used in the United States, according to that country’s Drug Enforcement Administration.

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