The National Customs Service, the Investigative Police (PDI) and the Valparaíso Regional Prosecutor's Office managed to seize 148 kilos of cocaine paste after analysis and intelligence work that lasted several months in Chile.
El First discovery was located in the Port of San Antonio, and was subjected to inspection by the Customs scanner truck. The images revealed irregular shapes in the structure, so the physical control was carried out, which lasted several hours because a metal structure had to be intervened, and which culminated with the discovery of 160 packages of a substance that, when subjected to field tests, tested positive for cocaine paste, with a total weight of 81 kilos 662 grams.
Meanwhile, A second container was located in the port of ValparaísoThe merchandise was hidden in similar conditions and the count showed 128 packages containing 66 kilos 968 grams of cocaine paste.
Both seizures were valued at around $ 2.500 millones.
The Deputy Director of Customs Inspection, Javier Uribe, highlighted that "this discovery is the result of a thorough work that involved three institutions, which highlights the analytical work that our drug units have achieved based on the risk profiles of organizations that use sophisticated concealment methods to export drugs to other countries. This specific case required a lot of time and a review of documentation, but at the right time our non-invasive technology also had to be deployed to inspect the containers. This, without a doubt, shows the level of preparation that our operational units have achieved.”
For his part, the Head of the V Police Region of the PDI, Inspector Prefect Sergio Muñoz, added that "without a doubt it is a great success that comes to culminate months of work, in close collaboration with the Public Prosecutor's Office and with Customs, with whom we have carried out joint analyses to end this diligence that removes from circulation a large quantity of drugs that were destined to reach abroad."
At the same time, the Prosecutor of the Regional Anti-Narcotics Unit of the Regional Prosecutor's Office of Valparaíso, Víctor Ávila, explained that "an investigation was started at the end of last year and a group of people was identified who were exporting drugs from Chile mainly to Canada and Europe. In this regard, a series of intrusive measures were requested from the San Antonio Guarantee Court, which allowed the identification of Chilean and Colombian citizens who were participating in this organization and which led to its dismantling on Friday."
These seizures are one of the mlargest so far in 2018 by Chilean Customs and adds to the figures of discoveries made during 2017, which in total reached more than 3 tons: 629 kilos of cocaine paste; 1.639 kilos of cocaine hydrochloride and 833 kilos of marijuana, all of the above valued at more than 8 billion pesos.
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