PDI seizes 186 kg of pressed marijuana near San Pedro de Atacama
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.
🇨🇱 San Pedro de Atacama, El Loa province, Antofagasta region · Chile
The PDI in Calama seized a load of pressed marijuana in San Pedro de Atacama.[1]The seizure took place in the border sector of El Loa province, near San
Pedro de Atacama.[2]Calama’s chief prosecutor, Eduardo Peña, put the load at
186 kg of marijuana.[2]The local outlet El América reported 183 kg for the
same seizure.[1]The PDI valued the marijuana at 900 million pesos on the
illegal market.[1]
Peña said the Fuerza de Tarea Frontera Interna, the internal border task force,
made the find.[2]Peña said criminal groups move marijuana through certain
places in the area to bring it into Chilean territory for distribution to local
populations.[2]Subprefect Patricio Méndez, head of the PDI’s anti-narcotics
brigade in Calama, said detectives established a stash point through
intelligence work and information cross-checking.[2]Méndez said the drug was
being displayed and would later be destroyed.[2]
Méndez said marijuana smuggling has recently increased relative to cocaine and
cocaine base.[1]Méndez said the border sector of Antofagasta region is one of
the longest in northern Chile, and that the PDI and the prosecutor’s office have
agreed to create task forces to curb drug smuggling, vehicle theft and
contraband.[2]
Photos and video
Wrapped packages of pressed marijuana laid out for display after the PDI seizure in San Pedro de Atacama, with a PDI banner and officials behind them. Photo: Diario El AmericaPhoto details
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.
Carabineros' OS7 anti-drug unit in the Ñuble region reported seizing 33,758 cannabis plants between 1 January and 6 November 2026, up from 2,023 in the same period of 2025. It also recorded 286 arrests, including 16 for marijuana growing, as the speciality marked its 53rd anniversary.
