Five held in Chañaral with 156 kg of marijuana after a Route 5 check
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.
Carabineros in the Atacama region detained five Chilean adults, all over 18, for
drug trafficking and seized156 kg692 g of marijuana.[1][2][3][4]The procedure began
at a service station on Route 5 Norte in the commune of Chañaral, where officers
of the police investigation section (SIP) of the 1st Chañaral police station
were checking two parked vehicles and found 140 packages containing marijuana
inside them.[1][2][3][4]The prosecutor’s office then ordered the OS7 anti-drug section
of Carabineros de Atacama to carry out inquiries including phone analysis,
review of security camera footage and statements.[1][4]The investigation ended
with 156 kg692 g of marijuana seized, which Carabineros counted as 313,384
doses and valued at 1,566,920,000 pesos.[1][3][4]
Officers also seized mobile phones and two radio transmitters for the
investigation.[1][4]Three of the five detainees had records for drug
trafficking, theft and burglary of unoccupied premises, while the other two had
no criminal record.[1][3][4]On the order of the prosecutor’s office all five were
brought before a court and placed in preventive detention, and the prosecutor’s
office formalised charges against them as a criminal group for illicit drug
trafficking.[1][2][3]Chañaral chief prosecutor Nicolás Meléndez Chacón said the
detainees were caught moving a large quantity of drugs towards the Metropolitan
Region, and that the Chañaral guarantee court ordered preventive detention for
all of them because their freedom was considered a danger to public safety.[1]
Chile’s anti-drug police in Atacama, known as OS7, is a Carabineros unit that
specialises in drug investigations.[1]The zone chief general Cristián Acevedo
Yáñez presented the results together with presidential delegate Sofía Cid
Versalovic and Atacama security minister Gabriel Ortega Urra.[1]
The court set an investigation period of 85 days while the prosecutor’s office and Carabineros continued inquiries into the transport of the drug and the participation of the accused.[2]Atacama security seremi Gabriel Ortega Urra said the procedure added to the seizure of more than two tonnes of drugs made by the PDI the previous week.[2]
Photos and video
Photograph published as the lead image of the Carabineros Atacama account of the Chañaral seizure of 156 kg of marijuana; the page carries no caption or credit for it. Photo: G5 NoticiasPhoto details
G5 Noticiasg5noticias.clESChañaral detuvo a cinco personas por tráfico de drogas e incautó más de 156 kilos de marihuana
NOSTÁLGICA clnostalgica.clESDecomisan en Chañaral cargamento de marihuana avaluado en más de $1.500 millones: droga tenía como destino Santiago
Radioatacama.clradioatacama.clESCarabineros detuvo a cinco personas por tráfico de drogas e incautó más de 156 kilos de marihuana
Diario Chañarcillochanarcillo.clESCarabineros en Chañaral: Fiscalización policial culmina con la incautación de 156 kilos de marihuana
Open questions the AI reported
The article gives only its 9 November 2026 publication date and no separate date for the vehicle check, the arrests or the detention hearing, so the publication date stands in for the incident date.
No second independent account could be opened; the Carabineros Atacama statement and the Chañaral prosecutor's own releases were not retrievable, and a social-media post by Diario Chañarcillo repeats the same figures.
The article does not say how the 156 kg relates to the 140 packages, nor whether any more marijuana was found after the initial vehicle check.
No names, ages or individual roles of the five detainees were published beyond their nationality and that they are adults.
Whether the preventive detention was reviewed later, and any plea or trial outcome, is not reported.
The 1,566,920,000 peso valuation and the 313,384 dose count are Carabineros estimates, not independent figures.
The lead photo on the page carries no caption or credit, so it is listed only as the article's lead image and not as confirmed to show the packages.
Cell phones and two radio transmitters were seized but their number beyond the two radios is not given.
The page gives the seizure as 156 kilos and a value of more than 1.5 billion pesos, rounded figures that differ from the precise 156 kg 692 g and 1,566,920,000 pesos in the report; the report keeps the exact police figures.
The Radioatacama.cl page gives only its 9 November 2026 publication date and no separate date for the vehicle check or the detentions.
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' OS7 anti-drug unit in the Ñuble region reported seizing 33,758 cannabis plants between 1 January and 6 November 2026, up from 2,023 in the same period of 2025. It also recorded 286 arrests, including 16 for marijuana growing, as the speciality marked its 53rd anniversary.
