The Military Forces and Police of Colombia, in coordination with authorities from Ecuador, have launched a joint offensive against drug trafficking and transnational crime on their common border, military sources reported on Sunday. According to Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez Suárez, both countries have identified and prioritized five strategic zones, one maritime and four land-based, where there will be a permanent presence of Colombian and Ecuadorian uniformed personnel. On the Colombian side, over 20,000 members of the Army, Navy, Aerospace Force, and Police have been deployed in the border departments of Nariño and Putumayo, where FARC dissidents and other criminal organizations involved in cocaine trafficking operate. Authorities have also deployed helicopters, drones, and anti-drone systems, oceanic and coastal patrol boats, as well as river vessels to reinforce territorial control, detection, and destruction operations of illegal infrastructures. In the last three days, at least 46 drug processing laboratories have been destroyed. The most recent operation took place in a rural area of the municipality of Ricaurte, in Nariño, where Police Jungle Commandos raided a facility attributed to dissidents sending narcotics to Central and North America.
