PDI seizes 421 kg of cannabis in two Calama operations; two men held
Chile's Investigative Police seized 433.4 kg of illegal drugs, including 421 kg of cannabis, in two operations in Calama on 22 and 24 October 2026, arresting a 41-year-old Colombian and a 29-year-old Venezuelan in the first. Both appeared before the Calama guarantee court for a detention hearing on 23 October, while the second operation recovered 406.3 kg of cannabis in 391 packages.
Chile’s Investigative Police (PDI) arrested two men in Calama: a 41-year-old
Colombian and a 29-year-old Venezuelan.[1]The inquiry targeted a group of
foreign citizens accused of storing drugs at a private house for distribution to
small-scale dealers and through delivery sales.[1]Both men were brought
before the Juzgado de Garantía, Calama’s guarantee court, on 23 October for a
detention-control hearing.[1]
The PDI said the two procedures, on 22 and 24 October, seized433 kg428 g of
illegal substances in total.[1]In the first, detectives found 14 kg757.32 g
of cannabis, 7 kg304 g of cocaine hydrochloride, 5 kg60 g of cocaine base and
7.09 g of ketamine.[2]They also seized a car and 1,659,300 Chilean pesos in
cash.[2]The drugs were sent to the Antofagasta health service.[1]On 24
October a drug find in Calama recovered another 406 kg300 g of cannabis in 391
packages.[3]
The PDI said the two interventions were separate, each carried out on its own
information.[2]Prefect Inspector Freddy Castro Crespo, head of the
Antofagasta police region, said coordination with the Public Prosecutor’s Office
was fundamental to clarifying the facts and dismantling the criminal dynamics
associated with drug trafficking.[3]
Photos and video
Seized drug packages, a bag marked 'Peligro' and stacks of cash displayed with the PDI announcement on the Calama seizures, with PDI officers behind.Photo details
CNMedioscnmedios.clESPDI incauta más de 433 kilos de droga en dos procedimientos realizados en Calama
2001online.com2001online.comESCae venezolano vinculado con red de tráfico de drogas: autoridades incautan 433 kilos de sustancias ilegales
Open questions the AI reported
No charges or court outcome were reported after the 23 October detention-control hearing.
The PDI said the 24 October cannabis find was a separate procedure, and the reports do not say whether it was linked to the group detained on 22 October.
The 2001online report gives the cash only as 'more than one million pesos'; the PDI statement carried by El América and CNMedios gives 1,659,300 pesos, which this report uses.
No street value was published for the drugs.
The three accounts reproduce the same PDI statement, so they are not independent reporting.
The report covers two procedures announced as one result and is dated at the later one, 24 October 2026.
Left out, as its quotation was not found in Diario El América: The arrests came in a procedure on 22 October 2026, part of an investigation under Chile's drug law, Ley 20.000, coordinated with the local prosecutor's office.
The PDI's anti-narcotics brigade in Calama seized 186 kg of pressed marijuana at a stash point in the border area near San Pedro de Atacama, a find the local prosecutor said came from the internal border task force. The PDI valued the load at 900 million pesos and said it would be destroyed.
Carabineros' OS-7 unit in Cachapoal detained a 23-year-old man after seizing more than two kilos of marijuana from an interprovincial bus at kilometre 58 of Ruta 5 Sur in Mostazal. Drug-detecting dog Kelsy alerted officers to the luggage, and the man was placed at the disposal of the Ministerio Público on a trafficking allegation.
Carabineros detained a 50-year-old driver at a vehicle check on the northern access to the Coquimbo Region and seized 30.36 kg of processed marijuana in 30 packages. The Tenencia Carreteras Elqui found two packages in the car and OS7 officers found another 28 a short distance from the check point.
Carabineros in Chile's Atacama region detained five Chilean adults after officers found 140 marijuana packages in two vehicles at a service station on Route 5 Norte in Chañaral, and seized 156 kg 692 g of marijuana. Prosecutors formalised trafficking charges against the five and a Chañaral court placed them all in preventive detention; Carabineros valued the haul at about 1.57 billion pesos.
