Colombia: hovercrafts to tackle drugs

Colombian armed forces are hoping the first deliveries of their new Griffon 2000 hovercrafts will be a “game-changer”

Colombia buys hovercrafts to tackle drug trafficking

Colombian armed forces are hoping the first deliveries of their new Griffon 2000 hovercrafts will be a “game-changer” in the fight against organised crime and drug traffickers in the rivers of Putumayo province.

On the Colombia-Peru border, and within a few miles of Ecuador, the FARC rebel group has become “the biggest cartel in Colombia,” according to a report by the BBC’s Frank Gardner.

The group generates around $500,000 million annually to fund its terrorist insurgency against the government.

The rivers of the Amazon rainforest are the veins feeding the illicit drug trade in South America. Patrolling them can be an important counternarcotic strategy but until now the Colombian authorities have been unable to operate in the region for 6 months of the year as the water levels are too low.

However, with the British-made hovercrafts the Colombian Navy can now patrol the waters all year round.