Salvadoran bus passenger held with 4 kg of marijuana in Retalhuleu
Guatemala's national civil police detained a Salvadoran man travelling on an interdepartmental bus at the Nuevo San Carlos checkpoint on the CA-2 highway and found 4 kg of marijuana and half a kilogram of crystal methamphetamine in his luggage. Police valued the haul at more than 20,000 quetzales, a combined figure that did not separate the marijuana from the other drug.
🇬🇹 Puesto de Control Interinstitucional, km 185.3, ruta CA-2, Nuevo San Carlos, Retalhuleu · Guatemala
Guatemala’s National Civil Police (PNC) reported detaining a Salvadoran citizen
who was carrying drugs on an interdepartmental bus stopped at a checkpoint in
Retalhuleu department.[1]Police identified the detainee as Marcos “N”, who
was travelling as a passenger on a Galgos Sur bus from Tecún Umán, San Marcos,
toward El Salvador.[1]
During the inspection at the inter-agency checkpoint at kilometre 185.3 of the
CA-2 highway in Nuevo San Carlos, anti-narcotics officers of the SGAIA unit
found three packages of marijuana weighing four kilograms in his luggage, along
with half a kilogram of a drug known locally as cristal, meaning crystal
methamphetamine.[1]SGAIA is the anti-narcotics analysis and information
directorate of the national civil police, which staffs this inter-agency control
point on the CA-2 route.[1]The official report valued the haul at more than
20,000 quetzales, without saying how much of that figure was the marijuana.[1]
La Hora reported that the Salvadoran was travelling as a passenger on a Galgos
Sur unit from San Marcos and that police presumed he was heading to his country
of origin.[2]The same police statement, issued on 27 September 2025, also put
the marijuana at four kilograms and the other drug at half a kilogram.[2]
Photos and video
Police photo of the drugs seized from the Salvadoran passenger in Retalhuleu. Photo: PNC GuatemalaPhoto details
La Horalahora.gtESDetienen a salvadoreño que llevaba marihuana y droga cristal en Retalhuleu
Open questions the AI reported
The sources give no separate date for the detention; 27 September 2025 is the date of the police statement and of publication, and is used as the incident date.
The marijuana weight is recorded as a rounded four kilograms, not an exact measured figure.
The 20,000-quetzal value covers the marijuana and the crystal methamphetamine together, so it cannot be attributed to the cannabis alone.
No charges, court assignment or outcome were reported; the case was at the investigation stage.
Both outlets reproduce the same PNC statement, so the accounts are not independent.
On 21 October 2026 prosecutors and police at the Nuevo San Carlos inter-agency checkpoint on the CA-2 route arrested three Guatemalans in a pickup and seized 15 field-test-positive bags of marijuana, prefilled cannabis cigarettes, e-cigarettes and phones.
Police arrested Jaime “N”, 52, and Máximo “N”, 25, at a control post at kilometre 132.1 in Pasaco, Jutiapa, seizing 20 packages of marijuana plus two of crack and two phones. The men were moving a pickup on a tow truck, and both vehicles were impounded with the case sent to prosecutors.
Police arrested Zulmy Judith Méndez Díaz and Sandra Patricia Barillas del Cid as they tried to bring 15 packets of marijuana into the Las Gaviotas youth centre in Guatemala City for their detained sons. A duty court later bound both women over for trial on drug charges and ordered pretrial detention.
Guatemala's National Civil Police said officers arrested Alexis “N”, 25, in barrio Candelaria, Coatepeque, Quetzaltenango, on 27 September 2026 after finding four bags of marijuana in the pickup he was driving. The arrest was one of several the police reported that Sunday across five departments for crimes including kidnapping, extortion and fraud.
