This is the first time that a structure of this kind has been dismantled in Nariño. Three people were arrested.
The joint action of the Office of the Attorney General, through the Special Directorate against Drug Trafficking; DIJIN-National Police and the US agency (DEA) made it possible to locate, for the first time, a heroin production laboratory in Nariño.
The criminal structure operated in a premise in La Cruz (Nariño) and, according to the evidence, it belonged to a drug trafficking network that allegedly controlled illicit poppy crops, latex extraction, and processing, as well as transportation and sale of the substance in the border area with Ecuador.
In proceedings carried out in La Cruz (Nariño) and La Plata (Huila), three of the alleged members of the structure were arrested.
The people arrested are alias Leo Plástico, who would be responsible for controlling the chemical processes and drugs transformation; and the alleged head of the laboratory; alias Pablo, the alleged investor in the criminal organization; and alias Orejitas, the person who would be in charge of storing the heroin and transporting it.
According to the investigations, the substance was commercialized and transported to different cities of the country, and to Tulcán and Guayaquil (Ecuador). Caches adapted in vehicles or bicycles were used to camouflage the drug and to transport it to the border area. Some transporters used bicycles on tertiary roads between Ipiales and Buesaco (Nariño).
The arrests were legalized by a supervisory judge. A prosecutor appointed to the Special Directorate against Drug Trafficking charged the detainees with conspiracy to commit a crime; and trafficking, manufacture, or possession of narcotics.
In the course of the process, seven facts have been attributed to this illegal network, in which 68 kilograms of heroin valued at 1,300 million pesos; 5 vehicles, and 225 dollars have been seized.
The Office of the Attorney General makes this information public for reasons of general interest.
When we speak, results follow.
The information contained in this press release corresponds to the narration of the objective news provided by the officials in charge of carrying out the criminal investigations within the Office of the Attorney General. By the time this communication is disclosed, the legal status of the people mentioned is still pending to be resolved by the competent judicial authority, always under the presumption of innocence contemplated by Article 29 of the Political Constitution and Article 7 of Law 906 of 2004.