Police in nine South American countries seized more than 3,400 homemade bombs and 28 metric tons of bomb-making materials in raids targeting the booming black market in explosives, Interpol said Thursday.
“We’re seeing a disturbing rise in terror groups, organized crime and gangs using explosives — from violent attacks to illegal mining operations,” Valdecy Urquiza, secretary general of the global law enforcement organization, said in a statement.
“This successful operation across South America shows we are making progress, but the threat is real, and global,” Urquiza said.
Forty-five people were arrested over the course of the operation, which was conducted from mid-August to mid-October, according to France-based Interpol.
Authorities in Ecuador, which is battling a surge in violence by armed groups, found eight explosive demolition blocks, 30,000 rounds of ammunition, 620 magazines, 15 hand grenades and 750 cylinders of heroin at a location suspected of storing explosives for a criminal gang.
A woman was arrested during the raid.
In neighboring Colombia, police seized over 3,000 improvised explosive devices, mostly made from metal drinking flasks, along with five tons of explosives at a bomb-making factory.
Two people were arrested, including a bombmaker for an organized crime group, Colombian authorities said.
In Brazil, police discovered 900 kilograms of explosive emulsion, 240 detonators and 100 meters of fuse hidden in a truck’s cargo.
The materials were found hidden in air filters for trucks and inside large plastic containers labelled as car wash soap.
Interpol said there was evidence of a “particularly high illegal flow of chemicals and components that can be used to make explosives” in South America.
In Ecuador, explosives have been used in deadly tit-for-tat attacks between rival criminal groups.
In September, authorities in the Andean country thwarted an attack using an explosive-laden drone on a prison housing an ex-president arrested on corruption charges in April.
In Colombia, the security forces have been targeted in several bomb attacks recently by dissident members of the now defunct FARC guerrilla group.
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