In only three days, Argentina’s security forces seized more than 15 tons of marijuana. On September 22, 2021, Naval Prefecture service members seized a shipment of nearly 4,000 kilograms of marijuana during an operation in Puerto Libertad, Misiones province.
“The operation began when agents were carrying out surveillance in an area of eucalyptus and pine trees, known as ‘Nuevo Eucaliptal,’” the Prefecture reported in a statement.
“Immediately, amid an intense storm, [service members] began search procedures in the area,” the Prefecture said. They found bales containing 4,274 packages and a ball of marijuana buds, which criminals had hidden in the vegetation.
“While the personnel were conducting the drug seizure, several individuals who were hiding in the jungle attacked them with firearms,” the Prefecture said. There were no reported injuries.
This shipment joins the nearly 6 tons of marijuana that the Gendarmerie seized in the province of Misiones on September 21. Members of the Eldorado Unit of Complex Crimes Investigations and Judicial Procedures intercepted a truck with a trailer at the roundabout to access the city of Montecarlo.
“At the time of the inspection, officers saw at first glance a shipment that contained eucalyptus logs, but the drug-sniffing dog Loana detected the possible presence of narcotics,” the Gendarmerie said.
After removing several logs, the agents found 273 bales containing 7,279 packages of marijuana. In total, they seized 5,846 kg of the drug.
On September 20, Buenos Aires Police agents found 5.2 tons of pressed marijuana in a truck in the municipality of Campana, Buenos Aires province. Authorities arrested four people in raids connected to the event, which took place in the towns of General Rodríguez and Moreno.
Cocaine
On September 13, during another operation in the Salta province, the Gendarmerie detained four people who were transporting more than 40 kg of cocaine in a truck.
“According to the police report, the authorities noticed the situation because one of the fenders was deformed,” the Argentine newspaper El Tiempo de San Juan reported. “When they removed the fender, they found 40 rectangular packages filled with the drug, totaling 43 kg,” the report concluded.
