Two unusual drug concealment mechanisms were detected by inspectors of the National Customs Service at the El Loa outpost (east of the Antofagasta region), in Chile. These were coffee packets and shampoo containers that actually concealed a total of 8 kilos 132 grams of cocaine paste.
El Regional Director of the Iquique Customs, Cristian Molina Silva, noted that detection was achieved thanks to the combined use of X-rays, risk profiles and the high level of training of customs officials.
The drugs were transported by two Bolivian tourists who were travelling on interprovincial buses bound for Santiago.
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The first case involved the mechanic's assistant, who was carrying a morning bag with napkins, soups and 07 bags of coffee, which were perfectly sealed and inside they hid a total of 6 kilos 819 grams of cocaine paste.
Later, and from another bus, the inspectors established that the owner of the house was traveling with 3 shampoo containers that contained a total of 100 ovoids with 1 kilo 313 grams of cocaine base.
Molina Silva explained that the methods of concealment are as varied as the imagination and range from the intervention of truck chassis to the modification of containers, as occurred in these last cases. “Drug traffickers and organized crime are constantly changing, which is why the use of technology and constant improvement is very important to confront this phenomenon,” he pointed out.
The two suspects, the drugs and the evidence were handed over to the police for safekeeping and transfer to the Iquique Court of Guarantee. The hearing to control the detention was conducted by Judge Vicente Muratori, who decreed the legal detention and determined to leave the accused in preventive detention for the 120 days set as the investigation period.
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