Page Seven Digital
Equipped with firearms and dynamite sticks, smugglers who were intercepted by the National Customs (AN) tried to recover three trucks with illegal merchandise.
During the altercation, three motorcyclists were incinerated at the site of the operation, in the town of Chuquichambi, 95 kilometers from the city of Oruro.
The operation was carried out on Wednesday night, when five vans and two wagons were intercepted by anti-smuggling officials and the Bolivian Police, on an alternate route through which the criminals intended to reach Oruro.
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“Upon being discovered, the smugglers, approximately 50 in number, fired shots and threw dynamite sticks to dissuade law enforcement; however, they responded to the attack in order to protect the motorized. Despite this, three of the five trucks were disabled, so they had to be incinerated on the spot,” the AN reported in a statement.
The other two trucks were taken to the Customs compound in Pasto Grande.
The Vice Minister of Fight Against Smuggling, Daniel Vargas, pointed out that these events are recurrent in different border areas of the country, “where smugglers use war weapons to recover their motorized vehicles and contraband merchandise,” according to a publication by the Vice Ministry.
In the midst of the tension, and in the possession of the two trucks and the two vans captured, the officials were intercepted by the smugglers in the town of Los Pinos. Finally, the vehicles arrived at the customs area with a police escort.
