During military operations carried out to neutralize logistics and financial activities of criminal groups in Colombia’s Catatumbo region, Norte de Santander department, and under the Freedom Heroes Campaign Plan, troops of the Colombian Army’s Vulcano Task Force located two laboratories for drug processing in the rural area of Convención and Teorama municipalities. According to authorities, the labs belonged to the organized armed group the National Liberation Army (ELN, in Spanish).
The first offensive took place in the town of Ventanas, Teorama municipality, on May 19, where personnel assigned to the 8th Land Operations Battalion located a laboratory to process coca base paste that also stored 500 gallons (1,893 liters) of gas, 500 kilograms of chopped coca leaves, 100 kg of ammonia sulfate, 30 kg of urea, and 20 plastic cans.
In other operations carried out in the town of Macanal–Soledad, in the municipality of Convención, the same unit found another lab to process coca base paste on May 30. Authorities found 400 kg of chopped coca leaves, 200 gallons (757 liters) of gas, and 29 metal cans.
So far in 2020, the Vulcano Task Force has found 57 illicit drug labs in the Catatumbo region, in robust, joint military operations carried out in coordination with the Colombian Air Force and the National Police.