Colombia seizes nearly 49 tonnes of China-bound smartphone mineral
The haul, linked to ex-Farc rebels, was said to be worth US$1.2 million
Colombian police said Wednesday they had seized nearly 49 tonnes of tin and coltan, a mineral used in smartphones, that had been illicitly extracted by leftist rebels and readied for shipment to China.
They valued the seizure, one of the biggest of illegally mined coltan in Colombia in years, at US$1.2 million.
The police said the minerals, which are mined together, were extracted by dissident members of the now-defunct rebel Farc army in the jungle near the Venezuelan border.
The shipment seized in the city of Villavicencio came from illegal mines in the remote eastern departments of Guainia and Vichada.
It was bound for the Caribbean port of Cartagena with China as the final destination, the environmental protection police said in a statement.