The Local Prosecutor’s Office in La Paz coordinated the capture of a man and a woman transporting wrappers of suspected marijuana after surveillance and monitoring.[1] Officers first detained 25-year-old Heber Daniel Agurcia Mencía and minutes later detained 20-year-old Brendi Marilú Bardales Argueta on El Soldado boulevard in the city of La Paz.[1] Both were described as alleged drug distributors for the Mara Salvatrucha MS-13 criminal structure.[1] The detentions were carried out as part of Operation Safe Christmas under the National Inter-Institutional Security Force, with the Public Ministry’s anti-microtrafficking prosecutor accompanying the operations.[2]
From Agurcia Mencía officers seized a bag holding 30 packages of dried suspected marijuana of about one pound each and a mobile phone.[2] From Bardales Argueta officers seized a black plastic bag holding one package of dried suspected marijuana of about one pound, ten small transparent bags of suspected marijuana and a mobile phone.[2] The seized packages weighed more than 30 pounds (about 13.6 kg) in total.[1] The packages were to be sent to Public Ministry toxicology laboratories to determine purity.[1]
The detention was supported by agents of the National Anti-Maras and Gangs Force, known as FNAMP.[1] Investigators said Agurcia Mencía allegedly intended to move 30 packages from Guaymaca, Francisco Morazán, to La Paz.[2] Investigators said Bardales Argueta was allegedly dedicated to selling and distributing drugs in an aldea, a village, of the municipality of Santiago de Puringla and in La Paz.[2] The force verified that the man had prior drug-trafficking antecedents and that the young woman had been detained in 2017 for illegal possession of a firearm.[1] The La Paz prosecutor was preparing a criminal charge against the detainees for drug trafficking by possession against public health.[1] The detainees were to be referred to the corresponding courts as alleged perpetrators of that offence.[2]
