The Minister of Defense, Diego Molano, assured, at the Public Security Discussion held in the town of Usaquén north of Bogotá, that the authority is using virtual tools to end microtrafficking. According to what he detailed, processes have been carried out on social networks to identify common spaces in which drug trafficking also has a place. The head of that government portfolio explained that physical spaces are not the only ones in crimes of this type.
“We got involved with a new figure and it is the microtrafficking that occurs in the cyber world because the pots are no longer just face-to-face, they are now virtual and they sell the drug on Facebook in WhatsApp groups and take the drug home,” commented the minister.
It was during the week of March 20 when it was reported that authorities had raided three houses in Ciudad Bolivar due to allegations of microtrafficking in that sector located in the south of Bogotá. Colonel Ricardo de los Ríos, inspecting officer Metropolitan Police of Bogotá, said that it had been thanks to information from the public that investigative work had been carried out which, in the end, allowed the three raids to be carried out.
“A total of 160 bags of marijuana were seized and these items are left at the disposal of the Attorney General's Office, as well as to the persons captured (...) We invite you to strengthen the links of communication between citizens and the National Police. There are different channels for information to arrive that allow us to carry out investigations that keep firearms and microtrafficking away from the streets and have a higher perspective of security,” said the police officer.
In addition to highlighting his work on drug trafficking, Molano spoke about the new Citizen Security Law, which seeks to give citizens more tools to defend themselves and more rules to prevent damage to the city's infrastructure or attacks on uniformed members of the National Police during demonstrations. “The recidivism is over because whoever had two acts is no longer going to leave him on the street. Anyone caught with a knife or a dagger will be prosecuted for the crime of threat. The penalties are more severe for anyone who destroys an IAC or a TransMilenio bus. Anyone who affects the integrity of a policeman faces 60 years in prison,” he said.
Despite the crime, the minister commented, in Bogotá, thefts and homicides have been reduced. However, on the other hand, he announced the presence of more uniformed members of the public forces in the capital of the country: “Bogotá has 18,000 police officers, when we finish in August we will have 3,500 additional policies and by the end of 2023 there will be 4,000 police officers. Bogotá will end up in this administration with the largest increase of police officers to protect the surveillance of quadrants,” he said.
Diego Molano recalled that the reward for capturing Javier Veloza or alias 'John mechas', a criminal accused of being in charge of the attack on the CAI Arborizadora Alta in southern Bogotá, is 5 billion pesos. He assured that it is a priority for the Colombian authorities and justice to find the whereabouts of the leaders of the ELN, the dissidents of the FARC and the 'Gulf Clan'. “The challenge we have is Venezuela because there are the leaders, there they have the support of the regime and what we have seen is that on the other side they plan crimes and then seek to affect Colombians. The ELN are in Cuba,” he concluded.
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