Colombia’s National Army announced on Tuesday that seven coca processing laboratories allegedly belonging to the FARC’s 15th Front were neutralized during military operations.
El Doncello, Caqueta |
The National Army claims to have found hundreds of kilos of chemicals and a range of equipment used to process the coca plant in the southern state of Caqueta, in addition to nearly 4,000 kilos of cocaine ready to sold on the black market.
No arrests were made in the operations carried out by Colombian special operations units of the Sixth Division with the aid of helicopter gunships from the Air Force.
The Army did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.
MORE: FARC agrees to end all illicit drug operations at Colombia peace talks
Cocaine production has declined steadily in recent years, with the UN estimating in 2012 that the number of coca fields in the country dropped to 50,000 hectares. That is from a high of nearly 100,00 hectares in 2007 and the lowest number in almost 2 decades. However, production has increased by .8% between 2012 and 2013.
The US government attributes this overall decline to the alliance with the US formalized in Plan Colombia, an aid package worth over $8 billion USD delivered over the last 15 years to aid in drug eradication efforts.
MORE: Colombia’s cocaine production continues to drop: US
Sources
- Sexta Division neutraliza siete laboratorios para el procesamiento de droga (National Army’s website)
