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Vista aérea de un claro en la selva con los restos destruidos de un laboratorio clandestino y presencia policial a lo lejos
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Operation Storm destroys 274 drug labs across 12 departments

President Abelardo De La Espriella revealed the balance of Operation Storm, carried out by the National Police across 12 departments against the Clan del…

--- The context --- The president of the Republic, Abelardo De La Espriella, revealed on Monday the details of an operation he ordered the security forces to carry out against armed criminal groups operating outside the law in strategic areas of the country. The president himself announced the results on his personal account, presenting the balance of the offensive against drug trafficking. --- The facts --- The operation was Operation Storm, carried out by the National Police through DIRAN and the Jungla commandos. It had an impact across 12 departments and struck structures of the Clan del Golfo, the ELN, Comuneros del Sur, the ACSN and different factions of the FARC dissidents, according to the balance released by the head of state. During the offensive, 262 facilities for processing coca base were destroyed, along with 11 for producing cocaine hydrochloride and one for processing potassium permanganate. The presidential summary counted 274 laboratories destroyed in total during the operation. The balance also reported the seizure of 5.748 kilos of cocaine hydrochloride, 1.875 kilos of coca base, 85.172 gallons of liquid inputs, 23.422 kilos of solid inputs and 48.983 kilos of coca leaf. The damage to criminal finances exceeded $39.163 million and, according to the president, more than 19 million doses will not reach the streets. --- The positions --- The president congratulated the police officers and the Jungla commandos for the offensive and argued that cooperation, intelligence and coordinated action produce forceful blows. In the same message, he warned the narcoterrorist groups that their laboratories will be destroyed, their finances broken and their structures dismantled, and he told them that their days are numbered. --- What remains unknown --- The released balance does not detail how the results were distributed across each of the 12 departments affected, nor does it specify the exact places where each facility was destroyed. The next steps of the offensive are also not yet known from what has been reported, nor is the scope of the actions that will follow against the structures that were struck. --- Unanswered questions --- How were the 274 laboratories destroyed distributed among the 12 departments affected by Operation Storm? What actions will follow against the Clan del Golfo, the ELN and the other structures struck after this offensive? Will operations of this kind keep their pace in the strategic areas where those armed groups operate? --- EPM analysis --- Operation Storm concentrates its blow on the production capacity of the named structures: it destroys laboratories and processing facilities and seizes hydrochloride, base, inputs and coca leaf in volumes that the balance itself translates into damage exceeding $39.163 million. The central fact is not only what was seized, but the harm to the chain that sustains those groups finances, with more than 19 million doses out of circulation according to the presidential figure. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, Operation Storm shows an offensive aimed at the productive heart of drug trafficking, because it combines the destruction of laboratories, the seizure of inputs and an economic blow measured in concrete figures against several armed structures at once. Its real reach will be measured by the continuity of actions in the affected territories and by whether the criminal finances that were struck manage to rebuild. For now, the balance delivered by the president supports a prudent conclusion of operational effectiveness in this phase of the national offensive against the mafias.
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