Between March and June 2023, Bolivia and Chile have in common the detection and seizure of two drug seizures, transported in packages (or panelas) that are notable for having Pablo Escobar’s face printed on them.

On June 16, Bolivian authorities reported finding the specific cocaine packages while conducting an operation on the route between Concepción and San Ignacio de Velasco, in Santa Cruz.

40 panelas were seized and they tested positive for cocaine. The packages were stamped with the image of Escobar, the late leader of the Medellín Cartel.

The drug was transported in a vehicle, where it was hidden in a secret compartment.

During the operation, Juan Víctor Hurtado was arrested, the Special Force to Fight Drug Trafficking (Felcn) reported, in the voice of his national chief, Colonel José Illanes, according to Red Uno.

The strange sculptures of hippos with the head of Pablo Escobar that a Colombian artist made in protest against the legacy of the narco

Forerunner in Chile

There was no doubt about what they had before them: Pablo Escobar’s face said it all, it was the seal… it was drugs. A large seizure of illegal substances was seized in March of the same 2023 by the Chilean police in Arica, in the north of the country.

The panelas (packages) of drugs also had the face of Escobar, the extinct boss of the Medellín cartel, as a kind of mark.

What was seized during the proceedings was more than 3.2 tons of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine hydrochloride and cocaine base, the Reuters agency reported.

Why the stamp of Pablo Escobar

Héctor Espinosa, general director of the Investigation Police, stated that they use the figure of Pablo Escobar because he is a reference for them (traders), the aforementioned agency reported.

The investigation revealed that the drug had arrived in Chile from Bolivia.

By sealing the packages with the face of Pablo Escobar, the “criminal organizations leave it as a badge to see the traceability of the drug, to ensure that large shipments reach their destination,” Espinosa explains.

Among the panelas with Escobar’s face, there were others with pictures of dogs and cartoons.

Arrested in Arica, Chile

Police in Arica were able to arrest six in connection with the seized drug shipment.

Those identified as leaders of the organization were among those detained.

They seized, authorities maintained, 14 vehicles, cell phones, weapons, dollars and currency from Argentina and Chile.

Reuters recalled that in January this year Honduras also seized packages of cocaine bearing the image of capo Escobar, killed during a police operation in Medellín in December 1993.

At the end of 2021, they discovered a shipment of 405 kilograms of marijuana in Paraguay. There, too, the drug had Pablo Escobar’s face as its mark.

The popularity of the founder of the Medellín cartel means that, as reported by Prensa Libre, he is the image of some commercial products. But it can also be taken as a signal from the drug traffickers to “mark out” their territory.