The biggest drug bust in a decade, arranged on the coast of Falcón. Photo: Últimas Noticias.
The biggest marijuana bust of the decade was made three days ago in the Puerto Escondido area in Cabo San Román, Falcón, said General Domingo Hernández Lárez, the leader of the Strategic Command of the Bolivarian National Armed Force (CEOFANB).
Hernández Lara commented on the bust from the coasts of Falcón, just a few steps from Aruba and the Venezuelan waters where the Working Force (a civilian and military body) detected the suspicious shipment. When the authorities went to investigate the vessel, the crew threw heavy objects into the water. They were presumably firearms.
According to Hernández Lara, who commented on the bust while flanked by the packages of seized drugs, when officials searched the ship, they found 121 bags containing 5,063 packages of marijuana and 7 of cocaine.
This amounted to 2,865,850 kg of marijuana and 7,700 kg of cocaine.
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During the operation, the 12 Venezuelans who were aboard the vessel were detained. “These Venezuelans were hired by Colombians in Alta Guajira, Colombia,” noted Hernández Lara, who declared that the drugs came from the La Guajira Cartel. He then said that “they were trying to make it to Martinique.”
According to the CEOFANB leader, the 12 Venezuelans were hired in Sucre and Nueva Esparta, from where they were brought to Colombia, where the logistics of the plan to transport the drugs were prepared.
Hernández Lárez also showed journalists the central command of the newly formed Working Force installed in the Paraguaná Peninsula, which is comprised of Buchuaco, Tiraya, and Puerto Escondido, among others.
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The island of Aruba is monitored from this command post. Hernández Lárez noted how this central command was created 11 days after President Maduro visited Falcón and ordered it to be built.
“Seven days after starting to patrol the ocean, this is what we have achieved,” he said, pointing to the drugs arranged on the sea shore. “We want to formalize commerce with the nearby islands in order to prevent contraband” he said.
He then briefly touched on Colombia–Venezuela relations, noting how he expects them to improve so that the two nations can “work in a united way.”
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/KW/SL
