Gendarmes of the Núcleo section of Squadron 50 Posadas were patrolling the riverside of Candelaria, in Argentina’s Misiones province, in the early hours when they saw a small boat on the Paraná and, nearby, a parked vehicle with its doors open.[1] The patrol took place in the early hours, with the release’s ‘ayer’ (yesterday) placing it a day before the release’s 25 November 2021 date.[1] The officers saw one person loading bundles who fled towards National Route 12 on noticing them.[1]

A search backed by the narcotics detector dog Gringo found five black bundles inside a culvert, giving off a strong smell of marijuana.[1] With authorisation from the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Posadas, the gendarmes took the bundles and witnesses to their unit for Narcotest field tests and weighing.[1] The field tests were positive for cannabis sativa and the bundles weighed 91 kilos 900 grams in total.[1] No one was arrested; the person loading the bundles had fled on foot towards the route.[1]

The prosecutor’s office directed the case file and the seizure of the drug under Argentina’s drug law 23.737, known as the Narcotics law.[1] The Misiones outlet Iguazú Ahora carried the force’s account of the same patrol under its own headline the same day, using the same weight of 91 kilos 900 grams.[2] The Chaco outlet Más Contenidos also reproduced the force’s account on 25 November 2021, saying the bundles had been hidden in the culvert before the gendarmes seized them.[3]