In the eighth phase of Operation Orion, a multinational naval operation against drug trafficking, the Colombian Navy said that military and police authorities from more than 40 countries across Europe and the Americas had confiscated 145.3 tons of cocaine.

This figure represents the largest quantity of cocaine seized during the process to date.

The Colombian Navy explained that some 575 persons of different nationalities had been arrested during the October-November campaign, adding that 49 vessels, six submarines and three aircraft had been seized, and 66 tons of marijuana had been confiscated.

Since the launch of Operation Orion in 2018, the Colombian Navy had seized over 545 tons of cocaine and 244 tons of marijuana.

Although it had fought drug trafficking for decades, Colombia remained a major global producer of cocaine and faced constant pressure from the United States to reduce the coca crop, the main ingredient of the drug, as well as the production of cocaine.

According to the White House's National Bureau of Drug Control Policy, Colombia's cocaine production capacity increased 7.9 percent last year to 1010 tons.