Gendarmes seize 361.7 kg of marijuana from a pickup at 3,775 m near Salta
Gendarmería Nacional officers arrested one man and seized 361.769 kg of cannabis sativa from an abandoned pickup bed at 3,775 metres in the mining area of San Antonio de los Cobres, Salta, near the Chilean border. The Salta Federal Prosecutor's Office ordered both pickups and the drug seized and the man detained; the other driver escaped.
🇦🇷 San Antonio de los Cobres, Salta province · Argentina
Gendarmes of the Núcleo section of the 22 “San Antonio de los Cobres” Squadron
arrested one man on the Argentine side of the border with Chile, near the “XVI -
X” boundary marker and the Salín volcano, while his companion drove away.[1]Officers signalled two pickups that were entering at high speed from Chile to
stop, but one of the drivers evaded the control.[1]The arrested man was the
passenger of the second pickup, a Toyota Hilux without plates, and was caught as
he tried to flee on foot.[1]
On the way to the Socompa post with the arrested man, the patrol saw a vehicle
coming down an internal road of an abandoned mining project.[1]There they
found a second Toyota Hilux, dark red and also without plates, abandoned with
its doors open.[1]In the pickup’s bed were bundles packed in jute-type sacks
holding a brown vegetable substance with a strong penetrating smell, similar to
marijuana.[1]A Narcotest on the load came back positive for “cannabis
sativa”, with a total weight of 361 kilograms769 grams, according to the
Gendarmería statement.[1]
The Salta Federal Prosecutor’s Office ordered both pickups and the drug seized
and the man involved arrested.[1]
The operation took place in the mining area of San Antonio de los Cobres, near
the Chilean border, at 3,775 metres above sea level.[2]
Gente de Salta reported that the investigation was continuing to identify the
rest of the organisation’s members.[2]
Salta outlets reproduced the Gendarmería account, likewise reporting a satellite
phone and communication antenna seized from the first pickup.[3]
Photos and video
Photo published with the Gendarmería Nacional statement on the 361 kg seizure in San Antonio de los Cobres. Photo: Gendarmería Nacional ArgentinaPhoto details
No charge sheet, court appearance or sentence was reported; the Salta Federal Prosecutor's Office ordered the arrest and the investigation was continuing.
The sources give no street value for the 361.769 kg of cannabis.
The man detained is not named and his age was not published.
The other driver escaped and no arrest of him was reported.
The account is the Gendarmería Nacional statement, reproduced by the Salta outlets; no independent reporting was found.
The Gendarmería photos lack published captions; they are linked from the agency's page, credited to Gendarmería Nacional Argentina.
The precise spot where the second pickup was found is described only as an internal road of an abandoned mining project near the Socompa post, so the locality coordinates stand for the district.
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Chaco police securing a woman's belongings from a room she rented in Resistencia found two cannabis seedlings, marijuana flowers and indoor growing equipment, and anti-drug officers' field tests were positive for marijuana. The woman was detained after another clash with the owner and released on the order of the anti-drug prosecutor's office, which kept the items but not the cash.
