Colombian authorities, working with Panama’s police, have conducted an operation against the 30th front of the FARC dissidents. The operation has led to the arrest of numerous members of the drug trafficking group, including senior leaders. There was a total of 19 arrests, 12 in Colombia and 7 in Panama.  

The FARC dissidents are a group who rejected the 2016 peace deal in Colombia, which saw the leftist guerrilla group the FARC lay down their weapons, ending a 40 year insurgency. Much like the original FARC, the dissidents have continued to be heavily involved in drug trafficking, primarily cocaine. 

Colombian authorities have named four senior figures, of the 30th front, who were arrested in the operation.  

Fausto Reina Bravo, alias ‘El Profe’ – head of the criminal organisation.  

Juan Pablo Zuliaga, alias ‘Pipito’- El Profe’s second in command.  

Wilson Segura, alias ‘Palillo’ – Head of transporting cocaine.  

Humberto Reina Yepes – head of operations in Panama.  

The group was said to be using narco-subs to move cocaine out of Colombia to Mexico before the final destination of the US. The narco-subs were capable of carrying 2.5 tons of drugs each and were manned by 4-5 people. Colombia authorities sank the narco-subs after the operation was complete.

Example of semi-submersible narco-sub.

Colombia authorities were also able to seize numerous properties, firearms, Rolex watches, phones, computers, and many different currencies worth 800 million in pesos.