Two arrested with $19,768 marijuana; 28 more packs seized
El Salvador's police arrested José Fernando Barillas Chinchilla and Katherine Yohana Ramos on 9 July 2026 with nine marijuana portions valued at $19,768. Police with a K9 unit then searched the house where they stayed and seized 28 more marijuana packages, phones and $805 in cash.
El Salvador’s National Civil Police arrested José Fernando Barillas Chinchilla
and Katherine Yohana Ramos in flagrante on 9 July 2026 as they travelled in a
vehicle carrying marijuana.[1][2]The vehicle held nine large portions and six
medium ones.[3]Security Minister Gustavo Villatoro estimated the marijuana at
$19,768.[4][2]After the arrests and the publication of the pair’s photographs,
citizens reported more marijuana at the house where they were staying.[5][2]
Police then searched the house with a K9 dog unit and seized 28 more packages of
marijuana.[1]The house search also turned up two mobile phones and $805 in
cash.[3]The pair remained in custody and were to be sent to the corresponding
authorities for illicit drug trafficking.[5]
Villatoro said the operation was carried out under the Plan Control Territorial,
the security strategy in force since 2019.[4]Villatoro said the government
would not allow this poison in the country and was fighting the problem with all
firmness, whatever the quantity involved.[4]In his account of the operation,
Villatoro wrote that the drug business would not be tolerated by sea, by air or
on Salvadoran soil.[3]
Photos and video
José Fernando Barillas Chinchilla and Katherine Yohana Ramos with the marijuana portions found in their vehicle. Photo: Gustavo Villatoro's social media, via InfobaePhoto details
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Source: InfobaeThe 28 additional marijuana packages, mobile phones and $805 in cash that the PNC and its K9 unit seized in the house where the suspects were staying. Photo: Gustavo Villatoro's social media, via InfobaePhoto details
No weight in kilograms was published for the nine large and six medium portions or the 28 additional packages, so only the minister's $19,768 valuation can be recorded.
The articles give no town, department, road or neighbourhood for the vehicle stop or for the house where the pair was staying, so the place is recorded as El Salvador with country-centre coordinates.
Villatoro's posts did not state the offence the pair would be charged with beyond illicit drug trafficking, and no charge filing, custody ruling or court outcome had been reported.
The reports count nine portions as large and medium; Diario El Salvador, YSKL and Diario1 specify nine large and six medium, which the report follows.
Diario1 gives no exact date and calls the arrest a Friday capture, while the other accounts date it to 9 July 2026, a Thursday.
The 2.5 tonnes of marijuana and 1,200 arrests cited for January to July 2026 are national statistics, not this case, and are excluded.
All four accounts repeat the Security Ministry and minister's social-media version; no statement from the detainees was published and no ministry news page for the case was opened.
El Salvador's Attorney General's Office and National Civil Police arrested a 41-year-old man at his home in the residencial Santa Teresa in Santa Tecla, La Libertad Sur, on 6 November 2026, seizing portions of marijuana and cocaine along with grinders, pipes, a scale and two phones. Police said he would be sent to the courts for illicit drug trafficking; no weights or court outcome were reported.
National Civil Police agents arrested César Danilo López Hernández, 34, inside a higher-education centre in San Salvador on 6 November 2026, saying he carried marijuana and cash hidden in a backpack and tried to flee. Police did not identify the university or give the amount of marijuana or money, and said he will be referred for possession and holding with intent to traffic.
El Salvador's Attorney General's Office and National Civil Police carried out five raids in San Salvador Centro and arrested a man and a woman accused of forcing minors to sell drugs, with a third arrest warrant outstanding. Investigators said the case began in October 2026 when a 15-year-old caught selling drugs told officers adults beat him and made him distribute the substances.
El Salvador's National Civil Police arrested 21-year-old Ederson Stanley Santos Bermúdez in the Mejicanos district of San Salvador Centro on 4 November 2026 and seized several bags of marijuana it said were prepared for sale, plus a mobile phone. He was to be referred for possession and holding of drugs, with no weight or court outcome reported.
