QUITO: Ecuadorian authorities have intercepted a major shipment of bomb-making materials destined for use in terrorist attacks within Colombia.
Police seized three thousand seven hundred and fifty cartridges of explosive emulsion alongside fifteen miles of detonating cord during a border operation.
“We identified explosive material that was intended to be used to carry out terrorist acts in Colombia,“ the police confirmed via social media.
Officers arrested one man and one woman during the routine vehicle inspection in San Gabriel town.
Images revealed the hazardous materials carefully wrapped in plastic bags inside a small truck.
The shipment originated from El Oro province near Peru before travelling toward the Colombian border in Carchi province.
This interception follows Colombia’s worst security crisis in decades after two devastating guerrilla attacks.
A truck bomb explosion killed six civilians and injured over sixty people in Cali on Thursday.
Guerrillas earlier shot down a police helicopter during coca crop eradication operations near Medellin.
Thirteen officers died in that attack which authorities blame on factions rejecting the 2016 peace accord.
Many armed groups have transformed into drug cartels funded by cocaine trafficking according to analysts.
Colombian authorities separately arrested two guerrillas on Saturday connected to the Cali bombing.
The seized materials could have caused significant additional casualties if they reached their destination. – AFP
