Colombian Military Seizes Six Metric Tons Of Cocaine From ELN Rebels

JAKARTA - The Colombian military has seized six metric tons of cocaine from left-wing insurgents, the National Liberation Army (ELN) in forest areas in the southeast of the country, Defense Minister Diego Molano said Tuesday, June 29 local time.

The cocaine was seized during an operation in the rural municipality of Samaniego in Colombia's Narino province, near the Pacific coast.

"This ambush and seizure cost the group finances," Molano said in a statement to reporters, adding that the drugs were seized from the compound that supplies ELN with a monthly profit of $8 million.

Despite decades of battling the drug trade, Colombia remains one of the world's largest producers of cocaine and faces constant pressure from the United States to reduce the harvest and production of the drugs that have long funded Colombia's internal armed conflict.

The area occupied by coca plants, Colombia's main ingredient of cocaine, grew to 245,000 hectares (605,408 acres) by the end of 2020, and cocaine production capacity rose to 1,010 metric tons per year, the US Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) said last week.

Last year, Colombian security forces destroyed about 130,000 hectares of coca plants and confiscated about 505 metric tons of cocaine.

The ELN is estimated to have around 2,500 fighters and has been fighting the government since its founding in 1964 by extremists. the group is accused of funding itself with kidnapping, extortion, drug trafficking, and illegal mining.

The group is said to have failed to reach a peace agreement to end its part in the Colombian conflict, which has killed more than 260,000 people and displaced millions, because of the scattered chain of command.

Meanwhile, the top ELN leaders deny the group is involved in drug trafficking, which they say is the government's strategy to discredit them.