Seven people were detained in San Salvador and Santa Ana on suspicion of selling drugs, El Salvador’s National Civil Police reported.[1][2] The detentions took place during the night of Thursday, when police arrested two groups of people accused of selling drugs.[3] Three of the detainees were held in the colonia Altamira, San Salvador.[1] They were named as Noelia Guadalupe Tobar Ramos, 22, Jaime Salvador Molina Acosta, 49, and Moisés Stefan Canales, 37.[3] Four more were detained in the residencial Valladolid in Santa Ana, in western El Salvador: Cristhofer Alexander Aguilar Ramírez, 21, José Jonathan Argueta García, 27, Dylan Ari Hurtado Ramírez, 18, and Katherine Paola Márquez López, 30.[4] The operation took place at the residencial Valladolid, in Santa Ana.[4]

Police said the group in Santa Ana had several packages of marijuana valued at $24,004.[1] The same Santa Ana group also had methamphetamine valued at $2,821, and the Altamira group had methamphetamine worth about $34,790.[1] Neither methamphetamine figure is counted in the cannabis figures here.[1] Police said the drugs were kept buried in the patio of a house.[1] Diario El Mundo put the drugs seized in the two operations together at more than $60,000, a total covering methamphetamine and marijuana.[3]

The PNC said its investigation had established a link to a second group of people.[4] The arrests were carried out by the police anti-narcotics division.[3] All seven detainees were to be handed over for the offence of illicit drug trafficking.[4]