38 people were detained and 66 planes seized during an anti-drug operation at an airfield in Santa Cruz, in eastern Bolivia, the government reported.
“It is presumed that they were used to transport airplane gasoline (…) or for the transfer of controlled substances (hard drugs, ndlr),” said the Minister of the Interior (Interior), Eduardo del Castillo, regarding the hijacked planes, when reporting about the operation on Sunday night.
In the operation carried out on Sunday morning, 29 hangars of the Mondaca Aeroclub were raided, 25 kilometers from the regional capital, Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
Upon arrival, the police heard shots and found “large (amounts of) chemical and controlled substances,” according to the minister.
Among the detainees there are Bolivians and Brazilians, three of them with a history of drug trafficking.
In addition to the planes, weapons and ammunition, walkie-talkies, satellite phones and GPS equipment were seized.
The operation took place two weeks after the local newspaper El Deber published an investigation into the alleged annulment of a similar raid in 2019, at the same aerodrome, where planes were also seized.
According to the investigation, based on an alleged anti-narcotics police report, the then anti-drug chief, Maximiliano Dávila, would have “erased” the operation.
Del Castillo announced that “the authenticity of this report is being investigated in parallel.”
Dávila, close to former President Evo Morales (2006-2019), is imprisoned in Bolivia on charges of drug trafficking and illicit profits and is required by the United States justice system.
