Colombian authorities announced on Tuesday the seizure of 10 tons of cocaine in two clandestine laboratories in southwestern Colombia belonging, according to the army, to the ELN guerrillas.
This is the most important
“cocaine seizure”
of the year, said Defense Minister Diego Molano in a statement to the press.
Read also Colombia: the ruling conservative party appoints its presidential candidate
The drugs were in two laboratories of the National Liberation Army (ELN) in a village in the municipality of Samaniego in the department of Narino (bordering Ecuador) and could be recovered during a joint operation of the army, police and aviation.
"Ten tons, that means more than 300 million dollars that could have pocketed the ELN, the armed group which controlled these two laboratories"
, underlined Diego Molano.
According to the prosecutor's office, the drugs were being stored for shipment to Central America, one of the most widely used routes for illegal trafficking to the United States, the world's largest consumer of Colombian cocaine. After half a century of war against drug trafficking and despite the support of the United States, Colombia remains the world's largest producer of cocaine.
In 2020, coca leaf crops used for the production of this drug covered nearly 143,000 hectares and cocaine hydrochloride production reached approximately 1,228 tons.
Since the disarmament of the Marxist FARC, the Guévariste ELN is considered to be the last guerrilla formed as such still active in Colombia, where however many other armed groups are still rife, such as the dissidents of the FARC, who are also vying for control of the juicy drug traffic.