Military groups of Colombia and Ecuador dismantle improvised bridges by gangs operating in that area.
After the prolonged closure of the Rumichaca International Bridge, as a measure to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, smuggling and human trafficking increased by unauthorized steps.
The illegal passage of medicines, dollars, technological equipment and other objects has become common, especially in the sectors attached to the bi-national viaduct. The Carchi-Guaytara river, which divides the two countries, is the most widely used for these purposes.
Military groups by air and by land follow gangs of nationals and foreigners who lead organizations dedicated to this type of crime.
The Mirror plan, created and coordinated by the armies of both countries, executes actions to dismantle these gangs.
Using immense trees, rocks, cables and ingenious tarabitas they mobilize migrants, travelers, merchants or merchandise between the two nations on the river, in exchange for the payment of values that are negotiated outside the law.
Franklin Pico, commander of the Andes Infantry Battalion, said that they carry out one or two reconnaissance flybys to the border every day to not only fight the smugglers and those who mobilize people, but to guide the military who are on the ground.
For example, last Sunday, a bridge was destroyed in the Peña Blanca sector, in the intermediate part between Tulcán and Rumichaca.
The military said that the owners of the properties that are located on the border lend them for illegal passage in exchange for paying a toll.
As a result of an operation in the La Frontera sector, a few kilometers from the Rumichaca international bridge, in Ipiales (Colombia), a man was apprehended last Monday.
The Colombian Prosecutor’s Office reported that the citizen is accused of belonging to a group dedicated to human trafficking and would be part of one of the six organizations that operate on the Colombian-Ecuadorian border, where travelers pay between USD 20 and USD 60 per person. to be passed from one country to another by the river.
According to the residents of that area, the irregular gangs move more than 300 people daily through about 37 border crossings that link Ecuador and Colombia.
One of the modalities that have proliferated is the transit of goods on horses, with riders whose ages range between 8 and 15 years, due to the fact that due to their age they cannot be judged by Ecuadorian law.
Source: The Universe, social networks
Be the first to comment