Colombian Army forces and Paraguyan Navy officials launch separate, successful drug raids that disrupt cocaine trafficking networks.
Paraguay’s Joint Task Force (FTC) and National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD) arrested five suspects April 11 in connection with the seizure of 200 kilograms of cocaine aboard a small plane.
A Paraguayan Navy helicopter intercepted the plane near the town of Capitán Bado in the Department of Amambay, which borders Brazil. Security forces arrested two Bolivians aboard the plane and three Paraguayans who were allegedly preparing to pay for the cocaine. One of the Paraguayans was carrying $100,000 when law enforcement authorities took him into custody.
The suspects are allegedly members of an international organized crime group with ties to illegal gangs in neighboring Brazil.
Drug traffickers use Paraguay as a key transshipment point for Bolivian cocaine en route to Brazil and Europe. Amambay and Concepción border Brazil, while San Pedro borders Amambay and Concepción to the west. The three departments are hotbeds for narcotrafficking, which is largely overseen by the country’s largest guerrilla group, the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP). Narcotrafficking generates at least $650 million annually in Paraguay, SENAD reported.
The Paraguayan Military has increased the number of troops by 50 percent – from 370 to 555 – in these three departments to fight the EPP and the Armed Peasant Association (ACA, for its Spanish acronym).
Sword of Honor III: Colombian National Army makes massive drug seizure
The Colombian National Army’s Pegaso Task Force teamed with the Prosecutor’s office Technical Investigation Corps (CTI) to seize more than 150 million pesos ($59,821) in cocaine-producing chemicals as part of the Sword of Honor III campaign.
Troops discovered 1.5 tons of caustic soda, one ton of potassium hydroxide, and 350 kilograms of sodium metabisulphite among other chemicals in a rural area in the municipality of Tumaco in Nariño Department. The chemicals could have been used to produce more than 20 tons of cocaine. The Army didn’t immediately report whether Soldiers arrested any suspects in connection with the seizure or disclose which organized crime group owned the material.
Sword of Honor III is a continuation of the Sword of Honor counterinsurgency effort launched by the Colombian Armed Forces in 2012 to confront and defeat illegal groups nationwide. Under the initiative, Soldiers and Troops combat terrorist attacks, dismantle landmines, and persuade hundreds of guerrillas to demobilize and enroll in a government program that provides them with training so they can enter the civilian workforce.
The Army is asking residents to use hotline 146 to report any suspicious activity, as it continues to combat violence and the trafficking of illicit goods nationwide.
Paraguay’s Joint Task Force (FTC) and National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD) arrested five suspects April 11 in connection with the seizure of 200 kilograms of cocaine aboard a small plane.
A Paraguayan Navy helicopter intercepted the plane near the town of Capitán Bado in the Department of Amambay, which borders Brazil. Security forces arrested two Bolivians aboard the plane and three Paraguayans who were allegedly preparing to pay for the cocaine. One of the Paraguayans was carrying $100,000 when law enforcement authorities took him into custody.
The suspects are allegedly members of an international organized crime group with ties to illegal gangs in neighboring Brazil.
Drug traffickers use Paraguay as a key transshipment point for Bolivian cocaine en route to Brazil and Europe. Amambay and Concepción border Brazil, while San Pedro borders Amambay and Concepción to the west. The three departments are hotbeds for narcotrafficking, which is largely overseen by the country’s largest guerrilla group, the Paraguayan People’s Army (EPP). Narcotrafficking generates at least $650 million annually in Paraguay, SENAD reported.
The Paraguayan Military has increased the number of troops by 50 percent – from 370 to 555 – in these three departments to fight the EPP and the Armed Peasant Association (ACA, for its Spanish acronym).
Sword of Honor III: Colombian National Army makes massive drug seizure
The Colombian National Army’s Pegaso Task Force teamed with the Prosecutor’s office Technical Investigation Corps (CTI) to seize more than 150 million pesos ($59,821) in cocaine-producing chemicals as part of the Sword of Honor III campaign.
Troops discovered 1.5 tons of caustic soda, one ton of potassium hydroxide, and 350 kilograms of sodium metabisulphite among other chemicals in a rural area in the municipality of Tumaco in Nariño Department. The chemicals could have been used to produce more than 20 tons of cocaine. The Army didn’t immediately report whether Soldiers arrested any suspects in connection with the seizure or disclose which organized crime group owned the material.
Sword of Honor III is a continuation of the Sword of Honor counterinsurgency effort launched by the Colombian Armed Forces in 2012 to confront and defeat illegal groups nationwide. Under the initiative, Soldiers and Troops combat terrorist attacks, dismantle landmines, and persuade hundreds of guerrillas to demobilize and enroll in a government program that provides them with training so they can enter the civilian workforce.
The Army is asking residents to use hotline 146 to report any suspicious activity, as it continues to combat violence and the trafficking of illicit goods nationwide.
Drugs are something government leaders of each country should agree to fight together and eradicate completely since it is the main factor leading to world-wide crime and the loss of many human lives.