PDI seizes 2.1 tonnes of Bolivian cannabis in Chañaral and Taltal; one held
PDI anti-narcotics detectives seized 2,117 kg of cannabis packed in 98 sacks, starting from a vehicle check in Chañaral that led them to a second load in the ruins of a former nitrate works in Taltal. The Chilean driver was charged with drug trafficking and remanded, and the PDI valued the haul at about 13 billion pesos.
Detectives of the PDI’s Brigada Antinarcóticos in Copiapó seized2 tonnes and
117 kg of cannabis in the operation, the largest cannabis seizure the force has
made in the Atacama region through an investigation.[1][2]The haul was packed in
1,332 packages carried in 98 sacks.[1]The operation, carried out with the SAC
unit of the Atacama prosecutor’s office, ended with the arrest of the man
accused of transporting the drug and of finding the site where the rest was
stored.[1][2]
The detained man, a Chilean citizen, had previous drug-law offences and was
formalised on Thursday 5 November for illicit drug trafficking and placed in
preventive detention.[3]The investigation began with a check on a pickup
truck in Chañaral, where the Chilean driver was detained carrying part of the
cannabis; the PDI also seized the vehicle.[4]Digital forensic analysis then
led detectives to a second load hidden in the ruins of a former nitrate works in
Taltal, in the Antofagasta region, and investigators said the shipment’s
presumptive destination was Santiago.[4]
The investigators said the cannabis came from Bolivia and was moved from Calama
to remote pre-Andean storage sites in Antofagasta and Atacama before being
distributed elsewhere in the country.[1]The PDI valued the cannabis at about
13 billion pesos, equivalent to more than two million doses.[3][2]The head of
the PDI’s Atacama region, prefect inspector Marcelo Rebolledo Camilo, said the
force is working to set up an internal border plan to stop criminal
organisations using Atacama to store, move and distribute drugs.[1]
Photos and video
Photo of the cannabis packages seized in the Chañaral and Taltal operation.Photo details
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Source: Canal 9 Bío Bío TelevisiónPDI photos of the seized cannabis sacks presented after the Chañaral–Taltal operation.Photo details
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Open questions the AI reported
Canal 9 values the cannabis at about 15 billion pesos, while the PDI figure quoted by Diario Chañarcillo and Radio Nostálgica is about 13 billion pesos; the report uses the police figure and records the difference.
The PDI did not disclose the amount found in the Chañaral vehicle and the amount found in Taltal separately.
The detained man's name, age and the length of the investigation period were not published.
The PDI describes the second load as hidden in the ruins of a salitrera, a former nitrate works, which could not be checked independently.
The first seizures of the case happened days before the 5 November announcement and no separate date for them was published.
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.
