Police seize 4 tonnes of marijuana hidden in fruit truck in Cauca
Police and army units stopped a fruit truck on the Mojarras–Popayán road in El Patía, Cauca, and found about 4,000 kilograms of marijuana in 3,920 packages hidden among passion fruit and oranges. The driver was arrested and handed with the load and truck to the 37th Specialized Prosecutor's Office against drug trafficking.
🇨🇴 Mojarras–Popayán road, kilometre 31+100, El Patía, Cauca · Colombia
Units of the National Police and the National Army stopped a fruit truck on the
Mojarras–Popayán road at kilometre 31+100 in El Patía, Cauca, and arrested the
driver.[1]The truck was covering the Santander de Quilichao–Ipiales route,
police said.[2]Officers found 3,920 rectangular packages of marijuana hidden
among boxes of passion fruit and oranges in the vehicle.[1]
The police inspection and weighing procedure put the gross weight of the
shipment at 4,000 kilograms.[1]Police valued the load at close to 4 billion
pesos on the national market.[1]Laboratory analysis confirmed that the
material was marijuana.[3]
The driver, the drug and the truck were handed to the 37th Specialized
Prosecutor’s Office against drug trafficking.[2]The director of the National
Police, General Carlos Fernando Triana, said the load belonged to the Dagoberto
Ramos structure.[4]EFE reported that the load was bound for Ecuador and was
to be delivered in Ipiales, on the border.[5]The National Police said the
result formed part of its registration and background checks on the main roads
of the department.[6]
Photos and video
Police photograph published with the statement on the seizure, titled '4 toneladas de marihuana'. Photo: Policía Nacional de ColombiaPhoto details
No opened account gives the exact day of the roadside check; 21 September 2025 is when the police director announced the seizure and the earliest reports were published, while the police statement is dated 23 September.
The 4,000 kilograms is the gross weight of the shipment, including packaging, so the net weight of the marijuana is not known.
WRadio reported 3,900 packages and more than 400 million pesos in expected proceeds, while the police statement and other outlets give 3,920 packages and about 4 billion pesos; the report uses the police figures.
EFE reported that the truck had set out from Inzá, while the police statement and other outlets say it was covering the Santander de Quilichao–Ipiales route.
No charge, plea, measure of restraint or court outcome was reported; the case was handed to the 37th Specialized Prosecutor's Office for investigation.
The driver's identity and any prior record were not published.
The attribution to the Dagoberto Ramos structure is the police director's statement; no court finding on it was reported.
The 4 billion peso value is the authorities' own estimate.
Soldiers of the Colombian Army's Ninth Brigade captured two men at a checkpoint in Balsillas, San Vicente del Caguán, Caquetá, and seized 87 kilograms of marijuana they were carrying on two motorcycles. The Army estimated the load at about 160 million pesos and about 174,000 doses.
Army troops seized 1,700 kilograms of pressed marijuana from a van in Santander de Quilichao, Cauca, capturing one person after a pursuit from a military checkpoint. The Third Division attributed the load to the FARC dissidents' Dagoberto Ramos structure and valued the loss to it at more than 425 million pesos.
Colombian army, navy and police units seized about 2,700 kilograms of suspected marijuana from a bongo remolcador river boat at the Hong Kong wharf in Puerto Asís, Putumayo. Authorities linked the load to the Segunda Marquetalia dissidence's Comandos de Frontera, without naming suspects or giving a value.
Colombian police stopped a vehicle in the urban area of Chinchiná, Caldas, carrying 520 kilograms of marijuana and arrested the person caught in the act, immobilising a car with altered identification systems. President Abelardo de la Espriella announced the haul as part of two operations, the other being 358 kilograms of cocaine found in generators at the port of Cartagena.
