The Clan Úsuga was dealt a severe blow in the past month as cooperation between Colombia’s Central Directorate of the Judicial Police and Intelligence (DIJIN) and the U.S. Coast Guard led to a large seizure of cocaine and the arrests of multiple suspects.
The Clan Úsuga was dealt a severe blow in the past month as cooperation between Colombia’s Central Directorate of the Judicial Police and Intelligence (DIJIN) and the U.S. Coast Guard led to a large seizure of cocaine and the arrests of multiple suspects. Those combined forces seized 2,200 kilograms of cocaine, arrested 12 suspects and confiscated three vessels during operations between late September and late October.
Drug traffickers were transporting cocaine to Colombia when the DIJIN and the U.S. Coast Guard seized the shipment in international waters near Costa Rica. The DIJIN suspects that Clan Úsuga, a major Colombian drug trafficking organization, was involved in the shipment. In addition to transporting its own cocaine, the Clan Úsuga also transports the cocaine of other Colombian drug trafficking groups for a fee.
That seizure followed a string of successes by security forces on land.
In September, soldiers with the Colombian National Army eradicated 215,000 coca plants it suspected belonged to the terrorist group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in the Department of Cauca. The soldiers, who were from Task Force Apollo, carried out the operation in the village of Las Brisas in the municipality of Buenos Aires. Military authorities suspect the coca, which is the main ingredient used to produce cocaine, was being cultivated by the FARC’s Miller Perdomo Column, according to the Army’s Third Division.
Army troops also dismantled seven cocaine-producing laboratories and seized nearly 4,000 kilograms of cocaine in early September. Soldiers found the laboratories in the southern department of Caquetá; they housed hundreds of chemicals and equipment used to turn coca into cocaine. No arrests were made in any of the operations.
In August, the Coast Guard Station Santa Marta and the Magdalena Technical Investigation Corps Prosecutors Office (CTI) seized 40 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a shipment of coal on a Liberian-flagged ship in the port municipality of Ciénaga. The vessel, the “Ping May,” had arrived from England and was bound for the Netherlands when agents found 40 packages of cocaine.
It was the second time in less than a month that security forces found cocaine on a ship transporting coal in the Department of Magdalena. Coast Guard and CTI agents seized 246 kilograms of the narcotic from a Panamanian-flagged vessel that had arrived from Canada and was anchored at Puerto Drummond in Ciénaga. The ship also was destined for the Netherlands.
And in June, Colombian counter-narcotics police destroyed two cocaine laboratories and seized more than 810 kilograms of cocaine worth more than $1.5 million (USD) which allegedly belonged to the FARC’s Jacobo Arenas Column, in the Cauca villages of Agua Blanca and Comedulce. Officers also confiscated 600 kilograms of calcium chloride, a solution used to make cocaine.
The Clan Úsuga was dealt a severe blow in the past month as cooperation between Colombia’s Central Directorate of the Judicial Police and Intelligence (DIJIN) and the U.S. Coast Guard led to a large seizure of cocaine and the arrests of multiple suspects. Those combined forces seized 2,200 kilograms of cocaine, arrested 12 suspects and confiscated three vessels during operations between late September and late October.
Drug traffickers were transporting cocaine to Colombia when the DIJIN and the U.S. Coast Guard seized the shipment in international waters near Costa Rica. The DIJIN suspects that Clan Úsuga, a major Colombian drug trafficking organization, was involved in the shipment. In addition to transporting its own cocaine, the Clan Úsuga also transports the cocaine of other Colombian drug trafficking groups for a fee.
That seizure followed a string of successes by security forces on land.
In September, soldiers with the Colombian National Army eradicated 215,000 coca plants it suspected belonged to the terrorist group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in the Department of Cauca. The soldiers, who were from Task Force Apollo, carried out the operation in the village of Las Brisas in the municipality of Buenos Aires. Military authorities suspect the coca, which is the main ingredient used to produce cocaine, was being cultivated by the FARC’s Miller Perdomo Column, according to the Army’s Third Division.
Army troops also dismantled seven cocaine-producing laboratories and seized nearly 4,000 kilograms of cocaine in early September. Soldiers found the laboratories in the southern department of Caquetá; they housed hundreds of chemicals and equipment used to turn coca into cocaine. No arrests were made in any of the operations.
In August, the Coast Guard Station Santa Marta and the Magdalena Technical Investigation Corps Prosecutors Office (CTI) seized 40 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a shipment of coal on a Liberian-flagged ship in the port municipality of Ciénaga. The vessel, the “Ping May,” had arrived from England and was bound for the Netherlands when agents found 40 packages of cocaine.
It was the second time in less than a month that security forces found cocaine on a ship transporting coal in the Department of Magdalena. Coast Guard and CTI agents seized 246 kilograms of the narcotic from a Panamanian-flagged vessel that had arrived from Canada and was anchored at Puerto Drummond in Ciénaga. The ship also was destined for the Netherlands.
And in June, Colombian counter-narcotics police destroyed two cocaine laboratories and seized more than 810 kilograms of cocaine worth more than $1.5 million (USD) which allegedly belonged to the FARC’s Jacobo Arenas Column, in the Cauca villages of Agua Blanca and Comedulce. Officers also confiscated 600 kilograms of calcium chloride, a solution used to make cocaine.