The Colombian Navy dealt another harsh blow to transnational narcotrafficking by seizing 2,829 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride in four operations, carried out on August 5, 2020, in the departments of Antioquia, Chocó, and Tumaco.
The Navy told the press that troops assigned to the Caribbean Naval Force had seized 1,814 kg of cocaine hydrochloride on a speedboat in Antioquia department.
In another operation, the Pacific Naval Force and the National Narcotics Police reported seizing 200 kg of cocaine hydrochloride from an underground storage unit in a house in Chocó department, which borders Panama.
In the same area, service members found two storage units containing 17 bags with 498 kg of cocaine hydrochloride. The Navy reported that the stash belonged to the organized armed group Clan del Golfo, led by Darío Antonio Úsuga, alias Otoniel. The U.S. government has offered up to $5 million in exchange for information leading to the whereabouts and capture of Úsuga, the most wanted narcotrafficker in Colombia, who sends tons of cocaine to Central America and the United States, the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo reported.
Also on August 5, on the Pacific coast of Colombia, units of the Tumaco Coast Guard Station reported detecting a type of go-fast vessel navigating at high speed toward Central America. After the chase, authorities arrested two Colombian nationals and one Ecuadorean, who were carrying 317 kg of cocaine hydrochloride inside 10 bags that were tied to a handmade buoy, the Navy reported.