Venezuela’s security agencies today count more than 33.7 tons of drugs seized during 2020, as part of the institutional fight against drug trafficking networks.
The head of the National Anti-Drug Office (ONA), Alberto Matheus, reported on 2,669 operations conducting, more than 3,500 people linked to crimes typified in the Organic Law on Drugs were arrested.
Likewise, authorities withheld 168 tons of precursor substances used in the illicit manufacture of narcotic drugs, in addition to capturing 333 assets and resources belonging to criminal organizations.
The head of the ONA explained that the Bolivarian National Armed Forces carried out 43 military operations and achieved the dismantling of 49 laboratories used by Colombian cartels for the production of cocaine, a few meters from the border with the neighboring country, Venezolana de Televisión reported.
Likewise, 15 illegal tracks were destroyed, in addition to the arrest of two important heads of organizations dedicated to illicit drug trafficking requested with a red alert by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol).
The airspace defense actions led by the Strategic Operational Command and the Comprehensive Aerospace Defense Command also led to the disabling of 36 aircraft used to ship drugs to various international markets from Colombia, Matheus said.
Venezuela ranks fourth in the seizure of narcotic substances and in the dismantling of laboratories for processing, according to the latest world report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, presented at the end of June.
The world body’s recognition of the South American country’s confrontation against this scourge demolishes the narrative of the United States government, which accused high-ranking officials of the Bolivarian Executive, including the president, Nicolás Maduro, of alleged links with drug trafficking.
The Caracas authorities repeatedly denounced the US administration’s claims to manipulate the issue of drug trafficking to justify an armed attack on Venezuela, as part of its policy for regime change.
