Chilean authorities have carried out the largest anti-drug operation recorded in the country, seizing one hundred tons of narcotics hidden in timber shipments from Bolivia, following six months of coordinated investigations between various state agencies.
The National Customs Service of Chile explained in a statement that the operation is the result of "interagency work," which allowed for the detection of these shipments at various points in the territory, including the ports of Arica, Valparaíso, and San Antonio, utilizing new detection technologies.
"The foregoing constitutes the largest seizure in the history of Chile, considering that, of each detected timber shipment, between 10 and 20% corresponds to illicit substances, which amounts to 100 tons of drugs, mainly cocaine hydrochloride and ketamine," it indicated in a statement.
The Minister of Security, Martín Arrau, emphasized that this unprecedented seizure demonstrates the "magnitude and sophistication of organized crime" that Chile faces, a transnational threat that acts "with resources, adaptability, and without respecting borders."
"Faced with this, the response must be a coordinated State, with its institutions acting jointly and decisively to protect our borders, strengthen public security, and prevent these organizations from affecting the tranquility of families and communities throughout Chile," he highlighted.
The Prosecutor's Office, for its part, stressed that the success of the operation is due to "coordinated work by institutions developed within the framework of the port focus created in 2024 to strengthen the protection of our ports and anticipate the action of organized crime through intelligence and criminal analysis."
"The magnitude of this seizure shows that it is not a casual finding or a stroke of luck, but the result of planned research, based on information, analysis, and a sustained strategy to safeguard the country's economy and the safety of citizens," he added.
According to the document, these findings represent "one of the most relevant investigation procedures developed in Chile regarding transnational maritime organized crime, evidencing the use of wood cargo from Bolivia as a method to hide the shipment of illicit substances to various international markets", mainly Germany, Belgium, France, Czech Republic, Morocco, United States, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Panama, Mauritius, United Kingdom, and Dominican Republic.
Chile as a logistics platform for drug trafficking
The investigations indicate that criminal networks have turned Chile into a logistics platform to redirect contaminated shipments to key ports in Europe, North America, Oceania, and Africa, taking advantage of the intense traffic of international maritime trade and the complexity of foreign trade logistics chains.
The drugs seized in these shipments would have been used to produce millions of doses destined for the international market and, according to preliminary calculations based on average prices of illicit trafficking in Europe, could have generated profits exceeding 8,334 million dollars (7,217 million euros) in European markets, once the extraction, refinement, and distribution processes were completed.