Between June 3-12, the Argentine National Gendarmerie (GNA, in Spanish) and Naval Prefecture (PNA, in Spanish) seized a total of 736 kilograms of marijuana in different operations conducted in the border area with Paraguay.
The first seizure took place on June 3 in Puerto Libertad, a town in Misiones province. PNA service members detected unusual movements near the Paraná River bank, and after a thorough search they found 10 packages containing 190 kg of marijuana.
A day later, PNA elements seized a shipment of 186 kg of marijuana in an area of dense vegetation near the Paraná River bank, in the town of Corpus, Misiones province.
On June 8, during an inspection conducted near the international border with Paraguay, GNA troops seized 98 kg of marijuana that a man carried on a motorcycle in the town of Media Luna, Formosa province.
During the PNA’s border surveillance patrols, authorities seized almost 80 kg of marijuana on June 9, in the coastal area of Puerto Rico town, in Misiones.
On June 10, PNA service members seized more than 152 kg of marijuana, again in the Corpus area, Misiones province. The PNA found five bags containing the drug hidden among weeds near the Paraná River.
Finally, on June 12 a GNA patrol hid for more than 16 hours in the dense foliage of a mountainous area in Formosa province to intercept narcotraffickers who attempted to bring in marijuana from Paraguay.
Authorities arrested a Paraguayan national, and after inspecting the material transported found 43 rectangular packages containing 30 kg of marijuana.
According to the U.S. Department of State’s 2020 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, marijuana seizures in Argentina have increased between 2015 and 2018, with a total of 448.8 metric tons seized during this period. According to the report, most of the marijuana seizures occurred in the provinces of Misiones and Corrientes, near the borders with Paraguay and Brazil.
“Between January 1 and May 31 [2020], the PNA and GNA seized 24,448 kg of marijuana in the borders that the provinces of Misiones and Formosa have with Paraguay”, the Argentine Ministry of the Interior told Diálogo in a statement.