Four held as PDI seizes 1,480 kg of cocaine and cannabis in Santiago
Chile's investigative police (PDI) detained four people — two Chileans and two Bolivians — in three anti-narcotics operations in Santiago, and seized 1,480 kg of drugs including cannabis sativa. One detainee is the father-in-law of Boca Juniors footballer Carlos Palacios, caught with 75 kg of coca paste.
🇨🇱 La Florida, Santiago Metropolitan Region · Chile
Chile’s investigative police (PDI) broke up three drug-trafficking bands
bringing drugs from Bolivia and detained four people during searches in the
Santiago Metropolitan Region.[1]The detainees were two Chilean citizens and
two Bolivians.[1]The three procedures were called Operación “Mar de Drake
II”, “Norte Rojo II” and “Capitanes”.[1]One of the Chilean detainees was
Sebastián Soto Guerra, 33, described as a member of the band “Los Pájaros de La
Legua” and the father-in-law of Boca Juniors footballer Carlos Palacios.[1]He
was caught with 75 kilos of coca paste and had been using a vehicle registered
to the footballer to move the drug.[1]
Police seized1,480 kilos of drugs, which included cannabis sativa.[1]Police
valued the seized drugs at 18,015,300,000 pesos, about USD 19.7 million.[1]PDI director general Eduardo Cerna said officers also seized five vehicles, two
handguns and a rifle, and froze more than eight bank accounts.[1]Security
minister Martín Arrau said breaking up national and foreign bands and taking
their money and weapons reduced the groups that frighten neighbourhoods.[1]
One of the properties searched in the Santiago commune of La Florida is
registered to the footballer’s partner.[1]The Metropolitan South regional
prosecutor, Héctor Barros, said police would not rule out investigating the
footballer, who could be charged or called as a witness.[1]
Photos and video
Police evidence display of packaged drugs, a rifle and PDI signs from the Santiago operations.Photo details
Infobaeinfobae.comESEl suegro del futbolista Carlos Palacios fue detenido en Chile: la policía decomisó 1.480 kilos de drogas
Open questions the AI reported
No source separates the cannabis sativa from the cocaine within the 1,480 kilos seized, so no cannabis weight is recorded.
The 18,015,300,000-peso valuation covers the cocaine and the cannabis together and is not recorded as a cannabis figure.
The source gives no separate date for the raids; 3 August 2026 is the day the detentions and the results were announced.
No charges, formalisation or court outcome have been reported for the four detainees.
The number of homes searched, the amount of cash seized and how the haul divided among the three operations were not published.
The PDI director general described the haul as “más de una tonelada, 484 kilos”, wording that differs from the 1,480 kilos total given elsewhere in the same report.
The text gives a weight ("1,480 kg") but the figures have no kg_seized; check whether it belongs there.
The PDI intercepted 12 kilograms of cannabis sativa sent by parcel from the Metropolitan Region to Coyhaique and valued by police at more than 198 million pesos. Investigators say a prisoner serving a drug-trafficking sentence in Coyhaique prison coordinated the shipments, and the man arrested collecting the parcels was placed in preventive detention.
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.
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.
