Suitcase case: investigation widens to Customs, Police and DGAC in Bolivia
Interim prosecutor Urioste announced the expansion of the suitcase case to airport officials. Videos show baggage entering without inspection with alleged drugs.
Prosecutor widens suitcase case to Customs, Police and DGAC personnel
Interim Attorney General José Armando Urioste announced on Thursday the expansion of investigations in the suitcase case to personnel from the National Customs Authority, the Bolivian Police and the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC), according to lapatria.bo. The investigation will also include the route followed by the aircraft involved.
"It will be expanded to all airport authorities, we are going to investigate the DGAC. We have to see the route that the aircraft has followed. The scope of the investigation is very large and all that information is still being gathered," Urioste stated.
Footage without inspection and missing dogs
The interim prosecutor noted that the investigative circle does not close with those who have already given statements. Urioste indicated that the images collected show unrestricted entry of baggage: "Obviously there are many people who collaborated here, we see footage where the suitcases enter completely freely. There is a report that mentions dogs and we have not seen dogs in any video."
Urioste clarified that the expansion does not entail charges for a different offence, but rather the newly investigated individuals fall within the suitcase case, whose focus is drug trafficking.
More than a dozen implicated since November 2025
The so-called suitcase case originated on 29 November 2025, when a charter flight from Miami landed at Viru Viru International Airport with a batch of baggage that evaded inspection controls. Subsequent investigations by the Special Force for the Fight Against Drug Trafficking (FELCN) and the Public Ministry determined that the cargo contained controlled substances, specifically high-potency marijuana.
Since then, the case has accumulated more than a dozen direct implicated parties: former legislators, high-ranking judicial authorities, former prosecutors and airport control personnel. The open criminal proceedings cover charges of drug trafficking, criminal association and failure to fulfil duties.
Alleged penetration in the Supreme Court and the Public Ministry
The case also exposes the vulnerability of the customs control system and the alleged infiltration of impunity structures within the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) and the Public Ministry. The expansion announced by Urioste could result in new revelations about the network of complicity and sanctions for officials found to be compromised.
Source: Google News BO — Crime