Federal police detained an Argentine man and a Paraguayan woman, both 38, after stopping a car in Posadas, Misiones, and finding cannabis sativa inside it.[1] The officers were from the División Unidad Operativa Federal Posadas, the federal police’s local operational unit, and were carrying out routine controls against federal crime.[1] Officers signalled a hire car carrying a passenger to stop at the intersection of Hungría and Juan Ambrosetti streets.[1] Crónica’s headline called the two an enamoured couple travelling with more than 8 kilos of marijuana, and its subtitle described the man driving his own car with the woman pretending to be his passenger.[2]

Officers said the woman looked around nervously and that a strong smell of marijuana came from inside the vehicle.[1] In a search carried out in front of witnesses, officers found 7.9 kilos of cannabis sativa in 41 packages of different sizes.[1] MisionesOnline, reporting on 21 June, counted 31 packages of marijuana hidden in parcel boxes and said the two people aboard were detained.[3] MisionesOnline said the packages were found after officers followed the vehicle, and that the authorities were still investigating where the drug came from and possible links to regional trafficking networks.[3] Police seized the vehicle, 30,000 pesos and two mobile phones, and staff of the Posadas scientific unit took part in the procedure.[1]

The national security ministry said the operation was carried out on its instructions as part of the fight against drug trafficking.[1] The two detainees and the seized items were left at the disposal of the federal criminal and correctional court of first instance in Posadas for an offence under the drug law.[1]