The Colombian Navy, with the support of partner countries, seized a historic 393 tons of cocaine hydrochloride in 2023. The achievement, carried out within the Ayacucho Plan of the Colombian Military Forces’ General Command, part of the government’s total peace plan, dealt a decisive blow to transnational criminal organizations, in the year of the commemoration of the Navy’s Bicentennial.
“What the Colombian Navy seized in 2023 is a historic figure that significantly exceeds by 18 percent what was achieved the previous year, and what was achieved years before,” Rear Admiral Jesús Leonardo Suárez Calderón, head of the Colombian Navy’s Anti-Drug Directorate, told Diálogo. “We seized 206 tons due to information exchange between Colombia and the United States, which represents 52 percent due to bilateral cooperation, ratifying the constant work carried out against illicit drugs.”
The Colombian Navy also seized 126.1 tons of marijuana, 23.7 tons of coca base, more than 1,700 tons of solid chemical precursors, more than 3 million liters of liquid chemical precursors, and 26 semi-submersibles. “We immobilized 340 vessels that were used for narcotics trafficking, destroyed 700 illegal infrastructures for processing alkaloids, and captured 687 people related to this crime,” the Colombian Navy said in a statement.
“The multinational cooperation effort for the fight against transnational organized crime has been fundamental to weaken the groups dedicated to illicit drug trafficking,” Rear Adm. Suárez said. “The cooperation between Colombia and the United States has been maintained and particularly strengthened over the years.”
According to the Navy, these results would not have been possible without international cooperation as part of the Naval Orion Campaign. The objective of the Colombian Navy-led strategy is to weaken the logistics and financial structures of transnational criminal groups.
“We have completed Naval Campaign Orion XII, an effort that began in 2018 with the sum of capabilities of eight countries in the region, to confront drug trafficking,” Admiral Francisco Hernando Cubides Granados, commander of the Colombian Navy, said. “In this latest version, we have achieved the sum of efforts of more than 42 countries of the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia; and more than 105 different institutions dedicated to the fight against crime that occurs in the maritime and land domain. In this latest version, we included in addition to drug trafficking the fight against illegal migration, illegal fishing, smuggling, arms trafficking, and money laundering.”
“The Colombian Navy continues to strengthen its capabilities to join the national and multinational institutions that fight against illicit drug trafficking and related crimes, under the principle of common and shared responsibility,” Rear Adm. Suárez concluded.