Man held as Carabineros seize 30.36 kg of marijuana on Route 5 in Coquimbo
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.
🇨🇱 Northern access to the Coquimbo Region, Route 5 Norte · Chile
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Arrested
1
Cannabis
30.36 kg
Carabineros detained a 50-year-old man at a vehicle check on the northern access
to the Coquimbo Region.[1][2]Officers of the Tenencia Carreteras Elqui checked
the vehicle and found just over two kilograms of processed marijuana in two oval
packages known locally as bolones.[1][2]Police said the driver had two previous
police records, one for maltreatment of Carabineros and one for minor injuries.[3][2]
Officers of OS7, Carabineros’ specialist anti-drug section, were called to the
sector and found another 28 packages of processed marijuana a short distance
from the vehicle check.[1][2]The operation ended with 30 kilograms360 grams of
marijuana in 30 packages taken out of circulation.[3][2]
Police said the load was travelling towards the centre and south of the country.[1]Lieutenant Francisco Ramírez, head of the Tenencia Carreteras Elqui, said
the quick coordination with OS7 had allowed officers to find the further 28
packages.[1]
Sources
Diario el Díadiarioeldia.clESCon la imagen de personaje en los paquetes: incautan más de 30 kilos de marihuana en la Ruta 5
Mi Radiomiradiols.clESTransportaba más de 30 kilos de marihuana y terminó detenido tras control policial en Coquimbo
PiscoFMpiscofm.clESCarabineros incauta más de 30 kilos de marihuana durante fiscalización carretera al norte de la región de Coquimbo
Open questions the AI reported
The accounts give no separate date for the procedure; 11 November 2026 is the publication date of all three reports.
One account places the check point at the northern access of Coquimbo commune while the others describe the northern access of the Coquimbo Region, and no kilometre is named.
No charge, formalisation or court outcome was reported for the detained driver.
The accounts give no street value for the marijuana and no number of doses.
All three accounts appear to reproduce the same Carabineros statement.
The accounts also mention an earlier weekend seizure of almost half a tonne of drugs on Route 5, a separate operation not counted in this report's figures.
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 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' 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.
