189 held and 2.68 kg of marijuana seized in La Araucanía police round
Carabineros detained 189 people across the Araucanía region in a mass sweep for people with outstanding judicial orders and migration checks, most of them in the Cautín prefecture. The operation also produced 2 kilograms 680 grams of prepared marijuana, 4,227 vehicle and identity checks and 190 citations.
Carabineros detained 189 people across the Araucanía region in a mass sweep, the
Ronda de Búsqueda de Prófugos y Control Migratorio, targeting people with
outstanding judicial orders and migrants.[1]Most of the detentions, 137, were
in the Prefectura Cautín, while the Carabineros prefectures of Villarrica and
Malleco recorded 52 between them.[1]Colonel Juan Pablo Cofré, head of
operations for the Zona Araucanía, said those captured are suspected of serious
crimes including robbery with violence, and that the operation also took
firearms, bladed weapons and ammunition of various calibres out of circulation.[1]Colonel Cofré said the detainees included people wanted over drug
trafficking offences.[1]
The drug component of the sweep was 2 kilograms680 grams of prepared marijuana,
which Cofré highlighted as the result of the anti-drug work.[1]Across the
round, Carabineros carried out 4,227 vehicle and identity checks and issued 190
citations.[1]
ADN Radio dated its account of the same regional round to 5 November 2026,
before SoyChile’s 8 November article, which credits El Austral.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
189
Cannabis
2.68 kg
Agency
Carabineros de Chile
Agency type
Police
Cannabis
Herbal cannabis (2.68 kg)
Activity
Trafficking
Case stage
Under investigation
Region
La Araucanía
Date
Approximate
Sources
SoyChilesoychile.clESRonda de Búsqueda de Prófugos y Control Migratorio en La Araucanía deja 189 detenidos
ADN Radioadnradio.clESMás de 4 mil controles, 189 detenidos y casi tres kilos de droga incautada: el balance del operativo policial en La Araucanía
Open questions the AI reported
Neither article gives the day the round took place; 4 November 2026 is used because ADN Radio's 5 November report describes it as that week's operation, while SoyChile's 8 November article could be a later account.
No breakdown is given of how many of the 189 detentions relate to drug offences or to the cannabis seizure; the state of any investigations is not reported.
The marijuana figure is given as prepared marijuana with no indication of whether it was seized from one or several people, and no laboratory confirmation or value estimate was published.
No separate count of vehicles, firearms or ammunition was published in the accessible accounts.
SoyChile credits the text to El Austral and ADN Radio carries the same statements from the same Carabineros press release, so the accounts may not be independent.
The SoyChile page photograph is credited only to El Austral and captioned as Carabineros carrying out vehicle and identity checks; it shows officers at a roadside check rather than the cannabis seizure, so it is not listed as media.
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 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.
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.
