Two Bolivian military personnel imprisoned in Chile for stolen truck smuggling
An Army lieutenant and an Air Force second lieutenant from Bolivia were remanded in preventative custody in Chile after being detained in the Tarapacá region.
Bolivian military personnel detained in Chile for attempted smuggling
An Army lieutenant and an Air Force second lieutenant from Bolivia were remanded in preventative custody in Chile after being apprehended in the Coipasa region, municipality of Colchane, on 2 November. According to El Deber, both uniformed officers were carrying weapons—a Glock pistol, a submachine gun and a tear-gas grenade—at the time of their arrest.
The operation began when Chilean Carabineros and Chilean military personnel were guarding a stolen truck in the community of Camiña, Tarapacá Region, in northern Chile. The two Bolivian military officers arrived at the location in a vehicle and were subdued upon entering Chilean territory.
A search of one of the detainees' telephone proved decisive: communications found on the device linked them to the people who allegedly stole the truck. In the messages they described the vehicle and requested logistics—a crane or a tractor—to extract it from a ditch and transport it to Bolivian territory. The truck was valued at 36,000 dollars.
Based on this evidence, both military officers were brought before the court in Pozo al Monte. The judge ordered preventative detention for a period of 120 days, whilst investigations into the case continue.
At the time of publication, Bolivia's Ministry of Defence had issued no official statement, nor had the Army or Air Force, the institutions to which the imprisoned uniformed officers belong.
Source: El Deber