In a joint effort by Colombia’s Attorney General, the DIJIN unit of the National Police and the United States Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) ICE Agency, an arms trafficking ring called Diamante has been toppled along with the capture of 25 of its alleged members. This according to Colombia’s Attorney General’s office.

 25 alleged members of the Diamante gang were captured in simultaneous raids across 4 cities.

Of the 22 arrests made by court order, 18 took place in Cali, Colombia and one in the nearby town of Buga; two in Bogotá and one in Medellín. The remaining three arrests were made in flagrante delicto in the capital of Valle del Cauca.

Under the coordination of a specialized prosecutor, last Tuesday uniformed officers carried out 28 simultaneous raids and searches in the cities, seizing short and long-range firearms (AK-40 rifles, Sig Sauer rifles with telescopic sights, grenade launchers, revolvers, pistols, grenades, ammunition of different calibers, accessories, essential parts for rifles and machine guns, and cell phones.

 An arsenal with short and long-range weapons & $97 million pesos were seized from the defendants.

According to the prosecutors, the investigation took place with technical and testimonial evidence, interception of communications, surveillance and monitoring. This criminal structure, prosecutors allege, had been committing crimes since April 2019, bringing weapons in from the United States and later distributing them to illegal armed groups or intermediaries in different cities throughout Colombia.

In arraignments, a Colombian judge legalized the arrests of the 25 suspects and the evidence. In the next few hours, the Prosecutor’s Office will file formal charges and request an assurance that the detainees are held without bond as allegedly responsible for the crimes of conspiracy to commit a crime and manufacture, trafficking and carrying firearms for the exclusive use of the Military Forces or explosives.

Under the coordination of a specialized prosecutor, last Tuesday uniformed officers carried out 28 simultaneous raids and searches in the cities, seizing short and long-range firearms (AK-40 rifles, Sig Sauer rifles with telescopic sights, grenade launchers, revolvers, pistols, grenades, ammunition of different calibers, accessories, essential parts for rifles and machine guns, and cell phones.

The incident took place on the Meta River in the remote southeastern Colombian department of Vichada where the river forms a border with Venezuela where the Colombian navy says the river current carried the boats away. The Evinrude equipped, US made Boston Whalers were equipped with 30 & 50 caliber machine guns. Boston Whaler is a respected manufacturer of small utility and fishing boats that are commercially available but adaptable for military and law-enforcement use.

“It is up to the President of Colombia to request the return of this military equipment to me. And if he did, it would be returned immediately,” said Nicolás Maduro, strongman of neighboring Venezuela, insisting that the Colombian president had to personally and publicly ask for the return of the boats in order to get them back.

The Colombian government generally uses such riparian vessels in anti-insurgency and drug interdiction efforts, as well as border patrol activities. Certain areas of the Venezuelan border are active areas in smuggling, human trafficking, and criminal activities including by militant groups such as the ELN.

This incident comes less than a week after apparent Canadian & American adventurers along with a team of Venezuelan exiles were captured in an apparent fantasy-induced attempt to land in Venezuela and capture Maduro, who has a $15 million US government bounty on his head. The adventurers launched their failed attempt from Colombia, embarrassing the Colombian government and prompting both Colombian President Ivan Duque and the US government to deny involvement.

The Colombian navy issued a statement confirming the loss of the boats.

According to the facts subject to investigation, three boats of the Colombian Navy that were in a fluvial control post moored on the banks of the Meta River in the department of Vichada on the Colombia Venezuela border, were unmanned and swept away at dawn today.

According to the preliminary version, this occurred when the sentry in charge of the boats’ security realized that due to the effects of the strong current, the boats were carried away by the river precluding any opportunity for recovery.

Units of the Eastern Force of the Colombian Navy were ordered to recover the boats, but given the proximity to Venezuela, the boats were carried by the river into Venezuelan territory, preventing the Colombian units from searching and rescuing them.

Taking into account the foregoing, the Eastern Naval Force proceeded to establish communications with the Venezuelan Naval post in Puerto Páez in order to ascertain the situation and coordinate the recovery of the boats; they expressed their support, informing they would locate and deliver the boats.