Colombian authorities seized 3,997 kilograms of marijuana in the department of Cauca in southwestern Colombia.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17] The marijuana was reportedly to be sent to Peru and Chile.[1][2][3][4][5][6][9][10][11][13][16][17] President Abelardo de la Espriella announced the seizure, the capture of two people and the immobilisation of three vehicles.[1][18][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][19][14][15]

Three procedures

The National Police said the haul came from three procedures against drug-trafficking structures[18][14][16]: in the Río Blanco sector of Popayán, in the municipality of Jambaló, and in Mondomo, a corregimiento of Santander de Quilichao.[19][14][15] Most of the marijuana was collected at Río Blanco and Jambaló.[14][17] In Mondomo, on the Panamericana highway, police arrested one person, immobilised a truck and seized about 4,542 litres of chemicals, 100 containers of caustic soda and 36 scales, Brigadier General Carlos Germán Oviedo, commander of Police Region 4, said.[19][14][15][16][17]

The seized material included 1,186 packages of creepy-type marijuana[1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9][10][11][12][13], and the chemicals, caustic soda, scales and other supplies used in clandestine laboratories for processing drugs.[1][2][3][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] The police put the economic impact at 3,883 million pesos, of which about 800 million was the material seized in Mondomo, and did not identify the structures affected or the two people arrested.[19][16]

De la Espriella said each seized shipment means fewer resources to finance terrorism, buy weapons and sow violence in the regions.[1][2][7][13][14] The EMC dissidents, the ELN guerrilla and other armed groups fighting for territorial control are present in Cauca.[1][2][7][13]