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Colombia has imposed new restrictions on the importation of drones following a sharp rise in their use by armed groups to carry out explosive attacks, the government announced on Thursday.
Authorities said guerrilla organisations, along with rival rebel factions and drug trafficking groups, have increasingly adapted commercially available drones to deliver explosives, targeting both security forces and civilians.
The devices are typically deployed with limited accuracy but have caused significant casualties and widespread fear.
According to the defence ministry, such drone-related attacks killed 20 people and injured nearly 300 others last year. Officials have recorded roughly 8,000 incidents involving explosive-laden drones over the same period.
Under a new government decree, the regulation limits drone entry into the country to designated customs points at Bogotá’s main international airport and the Caribbean port city of Cartagena, despite Colombia having multiple additional airports and seaports.
Colombia’s internal conflict, which has lasted more than six decades, has claimed over 250,000 lives.
While violence dropped significantly after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed a peace agreement and disarmed in 2016, armed clashes have persisted.
Dissident factions that rejected the peace deal continue to battle other groups for control of cocaine trafficking routes and frequently carry out attacks against state forces.
