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UNCLAS BOGOTA 000478 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR INL/LP AND WHA/AND 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR PGOV PREL KCRM PTER CO
SUBJECT:  NATIONAL POLICE SPEARHEAD RECORD YEAR OF DRUG SEIZURES IN 
COLOMBIA 
 
REF:  BOGOTA 3821 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  The Colombian Public Forces set new records for 
seizures of cocaine (including base), marijuana, and drug labs in 
¶2008.  Colombian Public Forces seized 245 metric tons of cocaine and 
base, 258 metric tons (MTs) of marijuana, and 695 kilos of heroin 
this past year.  They also destroyed 3,667 drug labs.  While all 
forces contributed to this record breaking effort, the Colombian 
National Police (CNP) led the way by seizing 150 of the 245 MTs of 
cocaine, 199 MTs of the 258 MTs of marijuana, and 644 kilos of the 
695 kilos of heroin.  The CNP also destroyed 1,753 of the 3,667 labs 
destroyed.  A variety of factors contributed to these unprecedented 
results, including aggressive senior police leadership, an expanded 
CNP Antinarcotics Directorate, and greater coordination between 
interdiction and eradication.  The challenge ahead is to consolidate 
this success as Colombia begins to take on a greater role in 
controlling and funding programs that historically received 
significant USG support.  END SUMMARY. 
 
-------------- 
By the Numbers 
-------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Government of Colombia (GOC), largely based on CNP 
successes, seized 503 MTs of cocaine and marijuana in 2008, which 
far eclipsed the previous national record of 380 MTs seized in 2007. 
 The Colombian National Police accounted for 150 of the 245 MTs of 
cocaine seized by the GOC, and 199 of the 258 MTs of marijuana 
seized this year nationwide.  The CNP also destroyed 1,753 of the 
GOC total 3,667 drug labs interdicted during this same period. 
Additionally, the Colombian Police seized 644 of the GOC total 695 
kilos of heroin captured this year.  CNP cocaine seizures primarily 
occurred at hydrochloride (Hcl) labs and their adjacent storage 
caches, road checkpoints, and seaports; antinarcotics units captured 
approximately 30 MTs of cocaine during seaport container inspections 
alone in 2008.  COMMENT: Bogota Drug Enforcement Administration 
(DEA) officials state that in addition to these documented seizures, 
they can attribute at least 100 additional metric tons of cocaine 
confiscated worldwide to CNP intelligence shared directly with them 
as part of bilateral investigations in 2008.  END COMMENT 
 
----------------- 
Leadership Counts 
----------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) In mid-2007, the GOC appointed a new CNP Director, Major 
General Oscar Naranjo, and a new Antinarcotics Director, Brigadier 
General Alvaro Caro; both of these officers proved instrumental to 
current CNP antinarcotics successes.  General Naranjo is a former 
head of both the CNP Intelligence and Judicial Police commands, and 
is known by Embassy officials to be a leader who issues clear goals 
and holds subordinates accountable to accomplish them and one his 
principal objectives was to strengthen the CNP's antinarcotics 
efforts.  Naranjo also sought to provide the resources for his units 
to achieve their objectives, as evidenced by the major growth he 
authorized in the CNP Antinarcotics Police (DIRAN in Spanish).  The 
DIRAN Director, Brigadier General Caro, brought an energetic and 
innovative leadership style to the unit and consistently focused on 
attaining results.  U.S. advisors report that Caro often visits his 
deployed units to assess their progress and personally debriefs 
intelligence officers to ensure that targets they identify are being 
acted upon.  On several occasions he authorized operations despite 
staff officer reluctance that missions might be too risky or 
uncertain of success.  One operational innovation was the stationing 
of 30-50 man Jungla (Colombian Antinarcotics Police Airmobile 
Commandos) units at coca aerial eradication bases, so that these 
detachments could quickly act on local intelligence, and conduct lab 
interdiction missions using aircraft when spraying was not feasible 
due to weather or when spray missions ended early.  This approach 
contributed led to many interdiction "targets of opportunity". 
COMMENT: This tactic will be less useful as we reduce our spray 
efforts and as flight hours become scarcer.  END COMMENT. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
Bigger and Better Antinarcotics Police 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) DIRAN, which accounts for less than five percent of the 
 
entire Colombian National Police force, accounted for 58 percent of 
cocaine, 75 percent of heroin, and 60 percent of the drug labs 
seized by the Colombian National Police in 2008.  This elite 
antinarcotics force, which receives significant support from the 
USG, grew from 3,600 personnel in early 2007 to 6,300 by the end of 
2008, to include a 30 percent increase in its Jungla Commandos and 
the assignment of thirteen Carabinero rural police squadrons to 
DIRAN during this period.  Despite this growth spurt, the 
antinarcotics police maintained a high training proficiency through 
a combination of local CNP training courses, U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection mobile training teams, courses at U.S. military schools 
and the Department of State's International Law Enforcement Academy. 
 The DIRAN training regimen is so well-respected that in recent 
years over 80 students from twelve countries have attended its 
International Jungla course, and DIRAN mobile training teams have 
responded to training requests from Afghanistan, Mexico, and 
Ecuador.  A key enabler for DIRAN's interdiction successes remained 
its highly-skilled aviation wing (ARAVI), composed of both fixed 
wing and rotary wing aircraft that are essential for target 
identification and tactical movement to remote targets.  U.S. 
aviation advisors state that the use of ARAVI flight hours were more 
efficient than in the past, since more accurate intelligence was 
driving the operations.  ARAVI receives significant USG support, but 
has made efforts to nationalize many functions as USG support 
wanes. 
 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Intelligence, Investigations, and Cross-Training 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) USG technical and operational support contributed greatly 
to DIRAN's major advances in intelligence operations and case 
preparations in recent years.  In the last year alone, DIRAN 
expanded its intelligence and criminal investigator ranks by 
approximately 60 percent.  DIRAN also tripled its investment in 
human intelligence payments in 2008.  In addition to providing more 
informant money, DIRAN leaders acknowledge they now pay informants 
more promptly, which has led to increased cooperation, including a 
phenomenon of repeat informers - individuals who return multiple 
times to reveal the location of different drug labs.  The recent 
arrival of the first two of three USG-provided upgraded C-26 
Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Aerial Platforms 
(ISRAPs) will further strengthen DIRAN's intelligence capabilities; 
the remaining two C-26s are expected to arrive by mid-2009.  In 
June, the antinarcotics police also established a Tips telephone 
hotline, though officers say it is too early to determine its 
long-term impact.  A final component to this enhanced DIRAN 
organization has been the extensive use of cross-training and 
internal rotations within the antinarcotics police that facilitates 
coordination among the various components and produces a great depth 
of professional experience throughout the organization. 
 
---------------------------------- 
Aggressive Anti-Corruption Efforts 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) DIRAN also strengthened its efforts to eliminate corruption 
from its ranks this year.  In 2008, DIRAN created a DIRAN Internal 
Affairs unit to combat corruption and misconduct within the force. 
This Internal Affairs unit reports directly to the general heading 
up DIRAN and is well staffed and resourced to accomplish its 
mission.  A DIRAN polygraph unit, jointly supported by the Narcotics 
Affairs Section (NAS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
(ICE), is also active in this anticorruption effort.  The unit 
conducted 1,083 polygraph exams of DIRAN personnel in 2008 alone. 
These anti-corruption efforts led to the opening of official 
investigations on 113 DIRAN members in 2008; 51 of whom, including 
three officers and twelve NCOs, have been dismissed and/or 
prosecuted.  Bogota DEA officials contend that efforts to eliminate 
corruption, as well as a series of high-visibility drug cartel 
arrests and extraditions, have created a growing public perception 
that the police can be trusted, which has led to more citizens 
willing to share information with the authorities.  COMMENT: The 
CNP, as outlined in Reftel, still face challenges in this area as 
evidenced by the resignations of two police generals and the 
dismissal of more than 200 other policemen for corruption 
allegations in 2008.  END COMMENT. 
 
 
--------------------------------- 
Every Cop is an Antinarcotics Cop 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) The CNP Director's concept of the antinarcotics fight as a 
police-wide effort was clearly evident in 2008.  DIRAN was the 
nucleus of the police's counternarcotics effort, but the dramatic 
interdiction gains registered this year would not have been possible 
without the participation of all police across Colombia.  For 
instance, DIRAN seized 88 MTs of cocaine this year, while the rest 
of the CNP were not that far behind at 62 MTs.  In the area of 
marijuana seizures, which typically does not involve complex 
airmobile operations or specially trained units, regular police 
seized 158 MTs -- almost four times the amount of marijuana seized 
by the antinarcotics police.  A further example of the CNP full 
court antinarcotics press was the Carabinero Directorate, which 
officially has a rural security mandate.  The Carabineros, in 
addition to enhancing Colombian rural security by arresting 1,559 
criminals, seizing 2,144 weapons, and confiscating almost 300,000 
rounds of ammunition, also managed to seize 26 MTs of cocaine, 15 
MTs of marijuana, and play a major role in successful manual 
eradication security efforts this year. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Challenge is to Consolidate Success 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) COMMENT:  The CNP's phenomenal interdiction successes, 
coupled with their record manual and aerial coca eradication 
accomplishments (Septel), made 2008 a banner year for the 
institution, and kept hundreds of metric tons off the streets of the 
U.S.  The challenge over the next few years will be to pace our 
joint nationalization efforts to ensure a sustainable transition of 
responsibilities, so that these many antinarcotics advances can be 
built upon and continue to successfully battle narcoterrorism in the 
coming years.  END COMMENT. 
 
BROWNFIELD