The Colombian Military Forces’ General Command (CGFM, in Spanish) reported on November 12, 2020 that Army troops captured Leison Jiménez Mosquera, designer and developer of semisubmersibles for narcotrafficking. The operation took place in San Juan municipality, Chocó department.
“Jiménez [is] accused of being a link between narcotraffickers and the National Liberation Army [ELN, in Spanish] guerrilla group. These terrorists provided criminal security in the construction area for submersible and semisubmersible naval artifacts, which were used to traffic drugs to the United States,” the Colombian Army indicated.
The CGFM reported that Jiménez has a U.S. government extradition request issued by the Texas District Court for narcotrafficking. The operation received support from citizen information networks that facilitated the subject’s location and capture, the Army added.
More citizen help
The CGFM reported that in another operation on November 7, the Army intercepted 1,000 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride in Villagarzón municipality. The drug, which belonged to the criminal group Estructura 48 that operates in Putumayo and areas bordering Peru and Ecuador, was being transported in a tanker truck. Authorities discovered the cache with the help of Colombia’s citizen support network.
In another blow to the semisubmersible manufacturing chain, Colombian authorities reported that during a simultaneous operation carried out in four towns on November 5, they “captured 11 alleged members of an organization at the service of narcotrafficking […]. The subjects are likely linked to the ELN for hallucinogenic substance trafficking. Those captured are wanted by the U.S. government,” the Colombian Navy said.
Among those detainees is alias Pinzón, who led all construction activities of semisubmersibles in the area. During the operation, service members found an electric submersible in a clandestine shipyard, capable of carrying up to 6 tons of cocaine, the report says.
