Five held as Colombian Navy seizes 3,954 kg of marijuana in the Pacific
Colombian Navy units detained five men crewing two boats carrying 1,536 kg and 1,603 kg of marijuana in the central Pacific, part of four operations that seized 4,427 kg of drugs, including 3,954 kg of marijuana. Two other crews escaped, abandoning 815 kg of marijuana and cocaine loads of 235 kg and 240 kg; the Navy said the seizures prevented two million doses from being sold.
🇨🇴 Central Pacific, Colombia (Buenaventura, Valle del Cauca) · Colombia
Colombian Navy units found two boats in different areas of the central Pacific,
one crewed by three men and the other by two, carrying bundles.[1]The men,
the boats and the cargo were taken to port in the District of Buenaventura,
Valle del Cauca, where judicial authorities took charge of the case.[2]Tests
in Buenaventura confirmed marijuana, 1,536 kg on one boat and 1,603 kg on the
other, and the five men were placed at the disposal of the authorities.[1]
Two men on a third boat jumped into the sea when they saw the Navy, and a search
by two surface units and an aircraft from the Aerospace Force’s Air Combat
Command No. 7 did not find them.[1]That boat held 235 kg of cocaine
hydrochloride and 815 kg of marijuana, and the search for the two men continued.[1]In a fourth operation, a crew beached its boat and fled, leaving eight
sacks holding 240 kg of cocaine hydrochloride.[1]
Across the four operations the Navy reported seizing 4,427 kg of drugs, of which
3,954 kg was marijuana and 473 kg cocaine hydrochloride.[3]The Navy said the
cargo was being carried through Pacific waters towards Central America and that
the operations kept more than US$41 million from trafficking organisations.[1]The Navy said the four operations prevented two million doses of both drugs from
being sold around the world.[2]
Photos and video
A Colombian Navy photograph of the seized drug haul, published with its statement on the 4.4 tonnes taken in the Pacific. Photo: Armada de Colombia.Photo details
The Navy gives no date for the interceptions, saying only that they took place 'in recent days'; 30 September 2023 is the date of its statement.
No charges or court dates were reported for the five detainees.
The number of people who fled from the fourth boat is not given.
The Navy's 473 kg cocaine total is 2 kg below the 235 kg and 240 kg it reports for the two cocaine seizures.
The US$41 million valuation covers the marijuana and the cocaine together, and the Navy says 'more than' that figure while the newspaper says 'up to' it.
The Comando General statement and the Pronto Noticias page reproduce the same Navy release, and the newspaper account follows it closely, so there is no independent account of the operations.
Army troops seized 1,700 kilograms of pressed marijuana from a van in Santander de Quilichao, Cauca, capturing one person after a pursuit from a military checkpoint. The Third Division attributed the load to the FARC dissidents' Dagoberto Ramos structure and valued the loss to it at more than 425 million pesos.
Colombian army, navy and police units seized about 2,700 kilograms of suspected marijuana from a bongo remolcador river boat at the Hong Kong wharf in Puerto Asís, Putumayo. Authorities linked the load to the Segunda Marquetalia dissidence's Comandos de Frontera, without naming suspects or giving a value.
Colombian police stopped a vehicle in the urban area of Chinchiná, Caldas, carrying 520 kilograms of marijuana and arrested the person caught in the act, immobilising a car with altered identification systems. President Abelardo de la Espriella announced the haul as part of two operations, the other being 358 kilograms of cocaine found in generators at the port of Cartagena.
Colombian National Police investigators seized 7,452 grams of marijuana in the Los Quindos neighbourhood of Armenia, Quindío, along with 98 boxes of clonazepam. Police said the marijuana was meant for sale in minimum doses at sales points around the city and handed the drugs to the local prosecutor's office; no arrests were reported.
