Joint military operations in Colombia prevented the shipment of 4.5 tons of drugs to international markets.
On March 3, 2021, the Colombian Army told the press that its troops had seized 3,538 kilograms of creepy-type marijuana, which were transported in 75 bags on two vessels on the Yarí River, in Caquetá department.
The drug belonged to a dissident group of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia led by alias Alonso 45, who is in charge of transporting marijuana from Cauca department to Brazil, Colombian Army General Jorge Hernando Herrera Díaz, commander of the Sixth Division, told the press.
The growing presence of marijuana shipments in the south of the country “is a product of the complexities that COVID-19 imposed on narcotrafficking’s criminal dynamics,” Colombian Navy Rear Admiral José David Espitia Jiménez, commander of the 72nd Poseidón Task Force Against Narcotrafficking, told Diálogo.
“The difficulty in moving cocaine precursors is forcing them to diversify narcotrafficking. With the creepy-type marijuana, which exceeds cocaine prices in some ports, they seek to make up for the profits they were receiving from cocaine,” Rear Adm. Espitia added. “Besides, marijuana has a very different situation in terms of production. What they need [for production] is a fertilizer that’s the same that they would use for other crops, legal crops.”
The Colombian Navy reported on March 1 that in another operation, in Chocó department, authorities seized 1 ton of cocaine packed in 29 bales that belonged to the National Liberation Army guerrilla group.
“This drug shipment was to be collected and then loaded into a vessel for illegal transport to Central American countries and the United States,” the Navy said.
