Search Bloc
Colombian National Police special operations unit
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The Search Bloc (Spanish: Bloque de Búsqueda) is the name of three different ad hoc special operation units of the National Police of Colombia. They were originally organized with a focus on capturing or killing highly dangerous individuals or groups of individuals.[1]
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First Search Bloc
The original Search Bloc was created in 1986 by President Virgilio Barco with the sole objective of apprehending drug lord Pablo Escobar and his associates. Its original commander was Colonel Hugo Martinez.[2][3][4]
Over 600 Search Bloc members received training from the United States and the Colombian army and were specially selected to be impervious to police corruption from the drug cartels. Throughout its mission, Search Bloc faced many obstacles, including a spy within the group. There were claims that the Search Bloc collaborated with anti-Escobar vigilante groups such as Los Pepes, including vigilantism in the suspicious deaths of Escobar's subordinates.[5]
Escobar was killed on December 2, 1993, in a shootout with members of the Search Bloc.[6]
After dismantling the Medellín Cartel, the Search Bloc was transferred to Cali to locate and shut down the Cali Cartel.
Second Search Bloc
The Search Bloc was revived in 2004 to root out cocaine and heroin traffickers in southwest Colombia. The new Search Bloc was tasked with taking apart the Norte del Valle cartel and arresting its leader, Diego León Montoya Sánchez, which it did successfully in 2007.
Third Search Bloc
In 2007, the Colombian government again ordered the creation of a new Search Bloc against the Águilas Negras, or Black Eagles, classified as a gang of former paramilitaries.[7]