The Attorney General’s Office exposed ‘Los de la Pradera’, a criminal structure accused of coordinating the shipment of large shipments of marijuana from southwestern Colombia to various regions of the country, using ingenious camouflage methods.

According to the investigation, the illegal group transported tons of narcotics hidden among food, drinks, wood and other legal products, taking advantage of land routes that connected Cauca and Valle del Cauca with the Coffee Region, the north, center and east of the national territory.

The authorities established that the marijuana was collected in illicit production areas of Tacueyó and Miranda (Cauca), then transferred to warehouses located on the outskirts of Cali (Valle del Cauca) and, from there, sent in modified tractor-trailers to hide the shipments.

In coordinated operations between the Prosecutor’s Office and the National Police, carried out in Yumbo and Cali, Armenia (Quindío) and Miranda (Cauca), four alleged members of the network were captured, from whom five cell phones, a truck and 349 cardboard boxes with 174,500 packs of contraband cigarettes, valued at 643 million pesos, were seized, in addition to transport documents and cargo manifests.

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Those captured were identified as Jhon Morales, alias ‘Bola’, alleged ringleader and financier of the structure; Fabio Vasco, alias ‘El Varado’, accused of defining the mechanisms of concealment and transportation of drugs; Elvin Villarreal, alias ‘El Costeño, who allegedly collected marijuana in Cali and coordinated shipments; and José Manrique, owner of vehicles that would have been used to move the caches.

A prosecutor from the Specialized Directorate against Drug Trafficking charged them with the crime of manufacturing, trafficking or carrying narcotics, and a guarantee control judge imposed a security measure in a prison.

During the course of the investigation, nearly two tons of marijuana and six vehicles have been seized from the ‘Los de la Pradera’ network, in addition to the capture of nine people in flagrante delicto in five different operations.

With these results, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Police reaffirm their commitment to the fight against drug trafficking and the criminal structures that finance their activities from the production and distribution of drugs in the country.