Customs seizes 600 thousand smuggled cigarette packs in El Loa outpost

The National Customs Service seized 600,500 packs of contraband cigarettes in the Avanzada El Loa with a value of US$151 thousand and a tax evasion of US$270 thousand. Key to the procedure was a scanner truck that began operations in Tarapacá at the end of 2023.

At a press point from the access to the Port of Iquique, the Undersecretary of the Treasury, Heidi Berner Herrera, together with the director of the Iquique Customs, Cristian Molina, announced the details of this million-dollar seizure in the region.

The regional director said that the truck was coming from Iquique in the direction of Santiago. The driver declared that he was transporting towels, but when checked by the scanner, 1,201 undeclared bales of cigarettes were identified. The driver was arrested and placed at the disposal of the Prosecutor’s Office, and he was also carrying an undeclared weapon hidden inside the truck.

Molina explained that so far this year 23 trucks have been seized between the Quillagua and El Loa checkpoints, totaling 23,000 bales of contraband cigarettes. seized between the two customs controls in Tarapacá.

For her part, Undersecretary Berner highlighted the initiatives to strengthen the National Customs Service from the point of view of acquiring new technology and strengthening the service and officials.

Meanwhile, the presidential delegate of Tarapacá, Daniel Quinteros, valued the seizure of cigarettes, pointing out that “they are capabilities that the region did not have to combat organized crime.”

“Today we have a region that has scanner trucks that it did not have before, which is strengthening its advanced customs and border control,” said the authority.