Police said that nine individuals died yesterday on Colombia’s Pacific coast when a cocaine lab exploded.
The explosion happened in the southwest Narino district, which is known for growing cocaine and is home to the Indigenous Awa people and many illegal armed groups.
According to AFP, eight persons were hurt.
The people who died worked for the National Coordinator of the Bolivarian Army, which was a rogue entity that used to be part of the FARC rebel force.
Colonel John Jairo Urrea of the police informed local media via video that a preliminary investigation indicated that a gas cylinder blew up as it was being used to produce the narcotic.
The rebel group said in a statement, “Because of human error and the way gas cylinders were handled, the place went up in flames in a matter of seconds.”
It turned down a 2016 peace deal with the FARC that put an end to decades of fighting. It is still talking to President Gustavo Petro’s Marxist government.
For decades, the area where the lab blew up has been important for cocaine trafficking to the US. Drug smugglers have used Mexican gangs to increase their dominance in the area.
Daniel Noboa, Ecuador’s conservative president, started a trade war with Colombia on Wednesday by putting a 30 percent tax on goods coming from Colombia. He said that the government of socialist President Gustavo Petro wasn’t doing enough to stop drug trafficking along their shared border.
Petro hit back with the same tariff and defended his work against drug traffickers.
Petro is going to Washington on February 3 to meet with his US counterpart. This is after US President Donald Trump made similar accusations against him in the last year.
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