Chilean customs, navy and police officers arrested a Peruvian man in Santiago who was trying to send liquid cannabis concentrate to Easter Island by sea.[1] Prosecutors in Valparaíso said the man was the leader of the organisation and had lived on the island for many years.[1] The case began when the Valparaíso customs drug unit flagged cargo bound by sea for the island, and the navy’s maritime police identified the sender.[2] Chile’s customs service, the navy’s maritime intelligence and investigation department (DIPOLMAR), the Carabineros OS-7 anti-drug unit and the Valparaíso organised-crime prosecutor’s office worked the case together.[2] The case was a multi-month investigation into the sea route from Valparaíso to Easter Island, and the prosecutor called it a new trafficking method.[2]

Officers seized 251 cartridges of tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive compound in cannabis, in liquid form, and a 2020 Toyota Tundra.[3] Customs said each cartridge held one gram of liquid, enough for 200 puffs or doses, a total of 50,200 doses.[2] The navy’s maritime governor for Valparaíso said it was the first time this substance had been seized in ampoule form.[4] Carabineros’ Valparaíso prefecture valued the haul at more than 25 million pesos, an unusual amount for Rapa Nui.[1]

The public health institute said the THC concentrations exposed vapers to heart toxicity from as few as two doses.[2] The suspect was taken to Valparaíso and brought before a detention-control hearing at the Valparaíso guarantee court on 12 June 2025, where prosecutors formalised him for drug trafficking.[4] The court granted a 100-day investigation period and remanded him in preventive detention as the prosecution requested.[4] Drug trafficking carries a minimum of five years and one day in prison, the classification the court accepted.[2]