Police have said that the FARC are teaching criminal gang “Los Rastrojos” how to make handmade landmines, reported RCN Radio.
The statement comes after police found 1,200 land mines in the Bolivar area of the west Colombian department of Valle de Cauca.
Authorities believe the explosives belong to Los Rastrojos, who, according to intelligence, have been receiving support from the FARC’s 6th Front in the area in making such devices.
They also found 77 pounds of ammonium-nitrate fuel oil, shrapnel and cables among other items. Seven bins full of an urea-like substance and syringes were also located on the forest property.
According to Colonel Julian Gonzalez, the police commander in Valle de Cauca, the landmines were made from PVC tubes and a syringe which would explode under pressure, and were used to protect cocaine processing laboratories, reported Caracol Radio.
Earlier this year, Defense Minister Rodrigo Rivera highlighted that the FARC seem to be increasingly working with criminal gangs in order to secure drug trafficking networks in the country.