The National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD) destroyed more than 10 tons of marijuana and made arrests in operations against drug-trafficking structures in Capitán Bado and Karapa’i, in the Amambay department. The actions involved four search warrants at rural properties in the Aguará Veve colony and an interception on a public road.
At the Aguará Veve properties, 3,260 kilograms of pressed marijuana were destroyed and equipment associated with processing ICE-type cannabis concentrates was seized. Freezers, scales, containers, butane-gas bottles and a refining or processing machine were also found, along with camps and part of the clandestine infrastructure, which were destroyed at the site.
Official reports differ on the quantity of seeds: one gives the figure as 6,500 kilograms, while another records 6.5 kilograms. Because the discrepancy cannot be resolved with the available data, the announced total of 10,132 kilograms should be treated with caution. The total also includes 342.5 kilograms of chopped marijuana seized separately in Karapa’i and 30 kilograms of ICE-type marijuana.
During the interception in Karapa’i, agents stopped a van carrying the chopped marijuana and also seized an industrial sieve. The material was taken out of circulation, but it was outside the rural properties in Aguará Veve.
The reports also differ on the detentions. SENAD identified five suspects — Olivio Acosta López, 23, Jorge René Barúa Miñarro, Héctor Sanabria, Javier Galeano and Bernardo Jara. However, the report detailing the four search warrants in Aguará Veve confirms four detentions and names Barúa Miñarro, Sanabria, Galeano and Jara, without clarifying the circumstances of the fifth arrest. The investigation will be handled by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The weapons seized included a shotgun, a rifle and two revolvers. More than 100 rounds of ammunition of different calibers were also collected. The number of vehicles likewise varies between the reports: one mentions six units, while another lists a van, a pickup truck, a car and three motorcycles.
The operation was carried out by agents from SENAD’s Regional Department No. 1, based in Pedro Juan Caballero, and by special forces, with the Public Prosecutor’s Office overseeing the operation under the coordination of anti-drug prosecutor Rossana Coronel. One official report estimated the damage caused to the criminal structures at US$490,000, a figure that should be understood as an institutional calculation given the discrepancies over some of the seizures.