By Javier Patiño C., CAMBIOColombia, December 12, 2024
(Translated by Eunice Gibson, CSN Volunteer Translator)
They were arrested, with the support of the Attorney General’s Office, in Bogotá, Cali, and at the military base in Tolemaida.
A special Colombian Army counter-intelligence group detected the loss of weapons, munitions, and explosives that were being taken from the military base at Tolemaida, Melgar, in Tolima Department.
On Thursday morning, December 12, the surveillance culminated in the arrest of three Army noncoms who were in charge of Army weapons storage depots, and who were just returning from a three-day New Year’s leave.
According to the investigation, the materials were leaving the storage depots in cars and trucks, allegedly transporting them to military units, but in reality they were being delivered to members of the FARC dissidents in the southern part of the country. In return, the Army noncoms were receiving from 1,500 to 2,000 million pesos a month (roughly USD $346-$462 at current exchange rates).
The three soldiers were discharged from the Army and the investigation is continuing, as officials seek more accomplices that are part of the business of selling weapons to illegal groups.
Last May President Gustavo Petro, together with Defense Minister Iván Velásquez, and then-Commanding General of the Armed Forces, General Helder Giraldo, complained that in several military garrisons there had been losses of weapons and explosives, especially at the military bases in Tolemaida and Guajira.
The arrests were made in coordination with the Attorney General’s Office and military forces in Tolemaida, Cali, Valle del Cauca, and Bogotá. The defendants will be charged with the crimes of fabrication, trafficking, and carrying weapons illegally.