The Colombian military seized two clandestine laboratories where the country's largest guerrilla group generated up to $4 billion in cocaine a year that was then delivered to Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán's old cartel in Mexico.
Video released by the South American nation's attorney general's office shows the moment soldiers descended from a helicopter and raided one of the two compounds that had been set up by the National Liberation Army in a forest located in the Pacific department of Nariño on Saturday.
Security forces were aided by agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration and were able to confiscate 2,800 kilos worth at least $95 million.
Military soldiers and intelligence agents in Colombia raided on Saturday two secret laboratories located in the jungle in the Pacific state of Nariño, near the border with northern Ecuador, and confiscated 2,800 kilos of cocaine worth $95 million. The compound was set up by the National Liberation Army, the largest left-wing guerrilla group in the country. The drugs were reportedly shipped off to Central America and then handed over to drug traffickers tied to the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán's old cartel
Colombian intelligence agents test the purity of some of the 2,800 kilos of cocaine that were seized from one of two secret laboratories that were set up by the National Liberation Army during a raid Saturday in the Pacific coast department of Nariño
An agent with Colombia's intelligence agency does a test on a tiny portion of the 2,800 kilos that were seized from a clandestine lab
At least 600 kilos of cocaine paste were also seized from the laboratories, which contained six shops, along with precursor chemicals which included acetone, hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid and caustic soda.
Colombia's Attorney General's Office estimated that the two laboratories produced at least three to four tons of cocaine a month or 87,000 kilos.
Investigators learned that the cocaine shipments were loaded into speedboats that departed from the Pacific shoreline of Cumbitara, a town near the border with Ecuador.
Pictured is some of the machinery set up at one of the two labs operated by the National Liberation Army, a left-wing guerrilla group in Colombia. The secret labs reportedly produced $4 billion in cocaine that was shipped to Central America and then to Mexico, where the Sinaloa Cartel was responsible for its distribution
The cocaine was delivered to several countries in Central America, and from there they were transferred to drug traffickers associated with the Sinaloa Cartel.
The Colombian government said in October 2020 that four mayor Mexican criminal organizations - Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Los Zetas and the Beltrán-Leyva Organization - are responsible for the majority of the cocaine that is exported from the Andean nation.
'Mexicans are in charge of buying, trafficking and selling in the United States,' said Rafael Guarín, the presidential adviser for national security, according to Business Insider MX.
'Mexico sends emissaries that verify the quality and leave through Venezuela or northern Ecuador to reach the United States.'
Data collected by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime shows that in 2019, Colombia had 154,000 hectares of coca leaf with the potential capacity to produce 1,137 tons, or 1 million kilos of cocaine.
Colombia intelligence agents survey the cocaine that was confiscated during a massive bust Saturday in the Pacific coast department of Nariño. The Colombian Attorney General's Office discovered 2,800 kilos of cocaine worth $95 million
Some of the seized cocaine was supposed to be labeled with Maserati logos prior to shipping
Colombia's Attorney General's Office said that the two laboratories were equipped with six shops were 30 workers allegedly produced up to $4 billion worth of cocaine annually for the National Liberation Army
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