Chile seizes record 100+ tons of cocaine‑laced wood from Bolivia

Chile’s authorities intercepted more than 108 tonnes of cocaine and ketamine concealed inside timber shipments from Bolivia, marking the largest drug bust in the country’s history. The operation uncovered 45 containers and roughly 1,080 tonnes of wood contaminated with 10‑20 % illicit substances at the ports of Arica, Valparaíso and San Antonio. Joint efforts by the National Customs Service, the Navy, maritime police, the public prosecutor’s office and other agencies, supported by six months of intelligence work, valued the seized narcotics at about 8.3 billion USD. The shipments were destined for markets in Europe, North America, Oceania and Africa, using the wood as a covert transport method.

Parallel investigations in Bolivia’s Pando department targeted sawmills suspected of supplying the drug‑infused timber. Raids on the MultiPando mill in Cobija and the Manurini Eco Import Export facility in Porvenir aimed to gather evidence linking Bolivian companies to the scheme, which Chilean prosecutors describe as an international narcotrafficking network.

Officials emphasized that the seizure demonstrates the sophistication and financial scale of transnational organized crime and underscored the importance of coordinated inter‑agency action across borders.