Colombian Navy Seizes 5.4 Tons Of Cocaine Worth IDR 2.6 Trillion From Drug Gang Del Golfo Clan

Colombian naval patrol illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/US Navy/Mass Communication Specialist RJ Stratchko)

JAKARTA - Colombian authorities, in collaboration with Panamanian and the United States officials, managed to seize 5.4 tons of cocaine worth USD 185 million or approximately IDR 2.682.500.000.000, Wednesday, July 14 local time.

The Colombian Navy said in a statement that the drugs were discovered when a speedboat fled back into Colombian waters after being detected by Panamanian authorities and being chased by members of the Colombian coast guard.

After a detailed inspection of the area, members of the coast guard found a suspicious ship with 81 sacks on board and another 147 sacks hidden in the surrounding vegetation, which together contained cocaine.

"If this illicit merchandise had arrived in the United States or Europe, it would very certainly mean 16 million doses on the roads of those countries, which would affect the health of the world's people", said Rear Admiral Juan Rozo Obregon, Commander of the Caribbean Task Force of the Colombian Sea Air Force.

Colombian authorities said the drugs belonged to the criminal gang del Golfo Clan. The group is led by Dairo Antonio Usuga, known as 'Otoniel', Colombia's most wanted drug smuggler suspect.

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.

Colombian security forces destroyed about 130.000 hectares (321.000 hectares) of coca in 2020 and seized about 505 tonnes of cocaine.

Meanwhile, at the end of June, the Colombian military had 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 in 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 USD 8 million.

To note, the del Golfo Clan, or the Gulf Clan, is considered the largest criminal gang in Colombia consisting of former right-wing paramilitaries. A top Colombian military official said in January that the group had about 1.600 members in 2016.

Earlier this week, Colombia's Ministry of Defense reported that five members of the Clan del Golfo were killed in the country's Norte de Santander Province, including a regional leader, while five others were arrested during a military operation.