Four men were convicted and one woman was released in Durazno after police ran Operation Relámpago, which seized marijuana and other drugs, a car, weapons, phones and about a million pesos in cash.[1]

The operation was run by the Durazno department’s anti-drug brigade, which had intelligence that two people were coming into the department to supply local distributors.[1] On Saturday 22 March 2025 police intercepted the car carrying the two men and found two bricks of pasta base, a cocaine paste, weighing 2.160 kg.[1] Four raids followed, two of them finding nothing; the other two led to three arrests and 51 bricks of marijuana weighing 25 kg.[1] In the raids police also seized 1,000,000 pesos, a .32 revolver, two air rifles, two two-way radios and eight mobile phones.[1]

The detained 33-year-old was sentenced to four years in prison as the perpetrator of a continuing offence of dealing in prohibited drugs in an aggravated form.[1] The 43-year-old was sentenced to three years and one month for assisting a person active in drug dealing.[1] The 42-year-old and the 31-year-old were each sentenced to four years for aggravated transport of prohibited drugs.[1] A court ordered the forfeiture of the cash and seized items to the state, including 749,192 pesos.[2] Durazno Digital reported that the four convictions were final after the court hearing, and that police also seized the car used by the group.[3]

The money and property seized were ordered confiscated to the state after the judgement.[3] The Durazno police chief, Gabriel Lima, confirmed to the local outlet that the operation broke up a drug distribution network.[3] Durazno’s police command presented the results of the operation at a press conference the following Monday.[4]

The seized property included the car the group travelled in, which the force kept.[2]