Chilean investigators from the Policía de Investigaciones, the maritime intelligence department of DIRECTEMAR, Chile’s maritime authority, and the National Customs Service seized 166 kilograms of “creepy” marijuana in a joint operation announced on 19 November 2021.[1] The same operation also found more than six kilograms of cocaine, a separate load that is not counted in the cannabis figure.[1] Officers found the drugs hidden in shipping containers whose declared cargo was bananas exported from Ecuador.[1]

Investigators had identified Ecuadorian nationals as the people of interest, suspected of sending drug consignments from Ecuador in containers.[1] The consignments were routed through the ports of San Antonio and Valparaíso, and the final destination of the merchandise was the market of the Región Metropolitana around Santiago.[1] The agencies said intelligence work and surveillance of the criminal organisation gave them the arrival and transfer dates of the merchandise, which they used to follow it and later detain those involved.[1]

The Navy’s own news service published the same account and a gallery of five photographs of the operation under the same 19 November 2021 date.[2] Valparaíso outlet G5 Noticias republished the authorities’ statement on the evening of 19 November 2021 with the same figures and the same account of the later detention of those involved.[3] DIRECTEMAR heads Chile’s Maritime Authority, the body that polices and inspects shipping under the Navy, and its maritime police department worked alongside the investigative police and customs in this case.[1]