Overview
- The seizure, which took place Thursday, happened during a routine Operativo Lapacho vehicle control on Ruta Nacional 157 near Río Seco and resulted in one man being detained and the drugs and truck seized by federal authorities.
- Officers found roughly 449 wrapped packages totaling about 470 kilograms of cocaine in the bed of a Toyota Hilux where bundles were hidden behind fuel drums and a tarpaulin.
- Prosecutors and investigators, led by federal prosecutor Rafael Vehils Ruiz, are working on the hypothesis the shipment arrived via an illegal air operation possibly touching down in Catamarca before overland movement toward Famaillá.
- The bricks bore the so-called 'sello del delfín', a marking linked to high-purity consignments, and investigators say they will carry out further searches and arrests to trace the organization behind the load.
- Authorities describe the case as the second-largest cocaine seizure in Tucumán after a near-500 kg 2023 case, with reported market valuations between about US$2.3 million locally and up to US$5 million if moved to Buenos Aires, and officials have urged better detection of clandestine flights in the northwest region.