Two Salvadorans arrested with cocaine and marijuana in Moyuta, Guatemala
Guatemala's National Civil Police arrested two Salvadoran men, 36 and 30, on a motorcycle on 21 July 2024 in Moyuta, Jutiapa, seizing one package each of cocaine and marijuana. The men entered Guatemala through uncontrolled border points and face 6–10 year trafficking charges under the anti-narcotics law; no weight, value or deportation decision was published.
🇬🇹 Moyuta, Jutiapa, Guatemala
Arrested
2
Agencies
Policía Nacional Civil (PNC), Subdirección General de Análisis de Información Antinarcótica (SGAIA)
The detainees were 36-year-old Belter Estefani Moge Arévalo and 30-year-old
Óscar Gustavo Quintanilla Martínez, riding a blue Yamaha motorcycle with
Salvadoran plates M365600.[1]
The SGAIA anti-narcotics unit’s field tests on both packages returned
presumptive positive results for cocaine and marijuana.[1]Police
investigations say the men had been entering Guatemala through blind spots,
uncontrolled points along the border, and both will answer for their acts before
the competent court.[2]
Authorities did not confirm whether the drugs were being moved from El Salvador
or whether the detainees will be deported.[1]Article 40 of Guatemala’s
anti-narcotics law sets a 6 to 10 year prison term for anyone found guilty of
illicit drug trafficking.[2]
Photos and video
The two cocaine and marijuana packages seized from the two Salvadoran men on a motorcycle in Moyuta, Jutiapa, published with PNC Guatemala's account of the arrest. Photo: PNC Guatemala via Diario El MundoPhoto details
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.
