A total of 35 cocaine processing laboratories were destroyed between January and April of this year, according to a balance offered by General Richard López Vargas, head of the National Anti-Drug Superintendence (Sunad).
López Vargas was yesterday in Santa Bárbara del Zulia from where he offered a balance of the anti-drug operations carried out in the western entity, called “Abril Rebelde”.
In this regard, the Anti-Drug Superintendent stated that in the Jesús María Semprún municipality (Casigua El Cubo), bordering Colombia, two cocaine production camps were destroyed. 130 soldiers participated in this operation with the support of Sunad, López Vargas said.
In the camps, the military located 7,530 kilos of coca base paste; 424 liters of liquid chemicals; 41 kilos of solid chemicals and 4,370 liters of fuel. All this material was incinerated on site, according to General López Vargas.
During the operation “Abril Rebelde” a subject was arrested. Two rotary-wing aircraft were used for the air raid on the Jesús María Semprún municipality.
the numbers
Once the exposition of the “Abril Rebelde” operation was completed, General López Vargas offered a balance of drug seizures made in the country during the first four months. In that sense, he said that so far 19,427,550 kilos of different drugs have been seized. The figure means an increase of 18.52% compared to the same period in 2021.
These seizures were made in 2,330 procedures during which 2,874 people were arrested as alleged members of drug trafficking organizations.
López Vargas clarified that, in five of the 24 entities in the country, 97.18% of the total drug collected through the different procedures was seized.
It revealed that Zulia occupies the first place in drug seizures, adding 15,723,343 kilos of seized narcotic and psychotropic substances, which represents 80.93%. Below Zulia are: Apure, Falcón, Táchira and Sucre.
In Apure, the Vuelvan Caras operation is currently being carried out against Colombian irregular groups. And Falcón was one of the points of the so-called “Safe Route” for drug trafficking managed by the so-called narco-political network, according to investigations.
Cocaine is first in seizures. Between January and April, 17,221,527 kilos of this drug have been seized; that is, 88.64% of the total; followed by marijuana (2,198,860 kg, 11.31%), among others.
