Customs officers at the El Loa checkpoint in northern Chile detained a 35-year-old Colombian man who was guarding two large sacks of marijuana.[1] The two sacks held 50 packages weighing 51 kg 550 g.[1] He told officers his only job was to watch them until third parties, whose identities he said he did not know, came to collect them.[1]
The finds took place in the early hours of Monday 5 October 2026.[1] The first came at 03:01, when inspectors checking behind the checkpoint’s warehouse found eight large sacks abandoned on the ground.[1] They counted 209 rectangular packages containing 215 kg of marijuana.[1] At 03:55 officers spotted a torchlight behind the restaurant opposite the checkpoint.[1]
In total, the Iquique customs office seized 259 packages weighing 266.55 kg of cannabis sativa, regional director Ricardo Aceituno said.[1] Aceituno said traffickers appeared to have used burreros — people carrying loads on foot — because landslides the previous month had restricted Route A-1 for trucks and buses.[1] The PDI, Chile’s investigative police, took charge of the drug and the suspect for transfer and custody.[1] Detectives are investigating whether the two loads are linked and what the detained man’s role was.[2]
