The Colombian Navy announced that during the development of operations over the past three days it managed to seize 427 cubic meters of timber in the departments of Valle del Cauca, Antioquia, Chocó and Amazonas.
According to the information revealed by the Navy, the seized woods are of the Brosimum Utile, Wink, Lily, Cedar, Oak and Virola Sebifera type.
The operations were carried out within the framework of the Artemis Naval Campaign, which, through patrolling and river control tasks of the Buenaventura Coast Guard group, in the waters of the San Antonio Estuary in the port city, intercepted a boat that was manned by a person who did not present either safe conducts or environmental licenses proving that the timber was legally transported.
Without the documentation requested by the authorities, they proceeded to seize more than 685 logs (250 cubic meters) of Brosimum Utile wood, also known in the region as Sande Troza, which were illegally mobilized on board a tugboat.
During the operation there were no catches and the wood was made available to the Buenaventura Public Environmental Establishment (EPA).
On the other hand, in river search and control operations over the Atrato River in the departments of Chocó and Antioquia, units of the Colombian Navy and the National Army seized 129 cubic meters of timber.
As confirmed by the Navy, during the first inspections carried out by troops of the 16th Marine Infantry River Battalion attached to the Titan Joint Task Force, a total of 88 cubic meters of common timber were found on several vessels in the vicinity of the municipality of Quibdó, Chocó.
In a second operation, in Vigía del Fuerte, Antioquia, during search and control operations on another vessel, 41 cubic meters of wood species Guino, Lily, Cedar and Oak were found.
The Navy confirmed that at the time of the inspections, the pilots of the boats did not submit the corresponding documentation or environmental permits for transport in accordance with current regulations.
Finally, in river control operations in the Caño Yahuarcaca sector, in the municipality of Leticia, Amazonas, Navy uniforms managed to seize 48 cubic meters of wood of the Virola Sebifera species, known in the region as Cumala, which were transported without the respective legal support required by the environmental authorities.
As in the other operations, the Navy confirmed that during the operation there were no catches and that the seized material was made available to the Corporation for the Sustainable Development of the Southern Amazon (Corpoamazonia) in Leticia, Amazonas.
According to the Navy, indiscriminate logging of trees for land grabbing, extensive livestock farming, construction of illegal roads and coca crops have generated 76 per cent of deforestation in the departments of Amazonas, Caquetá, Guainía, Guaviare, Meta, Putumayo and Vaupés, according to figures from the Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM).
Finally, the National Navy invited the community to report this type of crime to lines 146 and 147, available 24 hours a day, where it can report in real time situations where species of fauna and flora are affected, and reiterated its commitment to the protection of the environment and its task for the preservation and protection of territorial integrity.
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