Comandos Jungla

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At the military training area of ​​the Colombian Armed Forces in Puerto Salgar, Cundinamarca, Comandos Jungla units board an aircraft for parachuting training.

The Comandos Jungla German  commandos jungle are Colombian special forces against drug crime in the country. They are subordinate to the Dirección de Antinarcóticos and are therefore part of the Policía Nacional de Colombia (PNC).

assignment

The main task of Jungla is to fight drug crime in the jungle areas of Colombia. Above all, drug infrastructures such as laboratories, drug depots and depots with chemicals for drug production are destroyed. In addition, high-value targets , such as leaders of rebels who are in the drug business, are arrested.

history

The PNC started the first training courses for the Jungla in 1989 with the support of the USA and the Special Air Service (SAS) from Great Britain . The course lasted six months, during which a specially selected group of police officers were trained on measures to survive alone in the jungle for a week. The SAS instructors were active for Jungla until 1991 when the 7th Special Forces Group (7th SFG) took over the training in 1998 . Since then, training has been the responsibility of the company's own cadre, but the US government is still involved in the training.

Cooperation with other authorities

In recent years, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has been added to training. Both organizations looked after the Jungla in tactical, firearms training and land warfare . However, the DEA agents were also involved in arrests of high-level targets . The Jungla's education was funded by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (NAS) in the United States State Department and the Narcotic Affairs Section of the United States Embassy in Bogotá . In addition, other American agencies had participated in the training, the United States Department of Defense (DoD), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement . Great Britain was also secretly active in 1991, despite the end of initial training. British agents from MI6 , soldiers from the SAS and the Special Boat Service are said to have been active with the Jungla, according to media reports.

The Jungla, together with the Dirección de Antinarcóticos, were part of a delegation in 2006 to hold an exchange of experiences with Afghan anti-drug units. In 2010, Jungla organized a course in Mexico to show officials from Mexico, Paraguay , Argentina and Brazil how to destroy cocaine laboratories, collect evidence and how to use chemicals safely . Together with the 7th SFG, the Jungla helped to train the first class of the Tropa de Inteligencia y Grupos de Respuesta Especial de Seguridad in 2014 .

organization

The Junglas are basically divided into three companies, each of which is responsible for its own region:

40 members of the unit, stationed in Bogotá, also form a special reconnaissance team, which is primarily responsible for “high value targets”. The Jungla have 600 members.

equipment

The equipment is similar to that of the US Special Forces Command and is primarily provided by the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs :

The Jungla do not have their own aircraft , but cooperate with the Aviación Policial .

education

The training takes place in a dedicated camp in El Espinal . The aspirants are trained by a team of 60 Jungla cadres. The camp was set up with the help of the SAS and the US Special Forces Command . The training lasts four months and participants must learn skills in various areas such as land warfare , jungle warfare , drug control and survival training. Every aspirant must specialize after basic training. The following specializations are planned: sanitary , sniper , or blasting . In addition, the DEA has a shooting range at a base in Facatativá to practice fast shooting. Sniper training also takes place on this site.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Nic Jenzen-Jones: Run Through The Jungle: Colombia's JUNGLA Commandos. In: Small Wars Journal. November 22, 2011, accessed June 16, 2015 .
  2. ^ Andy Davies: Former MI6 officer reveals true cost of Britain's 'silent' drugs was in Colombia. In: Daly Mail. September 25, 2011, accessed June 16, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Secret aid poured into Colombian drug was. July 9, 2003, accessed June 16, 2015 (article based on Guardian newspaper reports).
  4. ↑ Embassy of the United States Tegucigalpa, Honduras. (No longer available online.) June 19, 2014, archived from the original on May 13, 2015 ; accessed on June 14, 2015 .

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