Overview
- - Gendarmería stopped a Jujuy–Mendoza bus at the Molle Yaco toll on Route 9 and a Bolivian passenger with stomach pain was X‑rayed, then evacuated 95 capsules that field‑tested positive for cocaine weighing 1.83 kilos.
- - Judicial authorities from Federal Court No. 2 in Tucumán ordered the hospital transfer to Zenón Santillán for a controlled evacuation, seized the drugs, and detained the passenger after the Narcotest result.
- - In a separate operation by Escuadrón 71 on Route 38 near La Cocha, officers searched a Salta–Mendoza “shopping tour,” found packets on passengers and in seats, and then X‑rayed all 53 travelers.
- - Six people were hospitalized under guard and, across the full inspection, authorities counted 752 capsules totaling 10.316 kilos of cocaine, with nine Bolivian nationals detained and phones, SIM cards, and storage devices seized.
- - The cases show how “capsuleros” move drugs by swallowing capsule‑wrapped cocaine, a method that is medically risky and that prompts radiographs and controlled evacuations under Argentina’s standard protocol, and the court has opened proceedings to trace the supply chain.