Codelco copper shipment for some US$ 4.4 million stolen in Chilean port

Chilean authorities said on Wednesday they were investigating the theft of a dozen containers of copper cargo worth some US$4.4 million from the Chilean port of San Antonio, which belonged to state-owned Codelco, the world’s largest producer of the metal.

The mining company confirmed to Reuters that “it was a Codelco cargo that was delivered to the CMA-CGM shipping company for dispatch abroad. There are committed insurance”, without giving further details.

According to the San Antonio prosecutor, Juan Carlos Catalán, said in the afternoon, a group of ten men with firearms usurped 13 containers and 12 of these had copper plates. He added that the first steps have already been ordered from various police departments to collect records and search for the perpetrators of the robbery.

“The request for security video recording cameras of the surroundings and roads in the sector is in progress. We are in the first steps, which are ongoing. there are no detainees”, he added.

As previously published by the press, the copper would be exported to China and the theft occurred through the new access to the port, the main one in Chile, located on the Pacific Ocean coast.

The assault occurred early Tuesday morning, the prosecutor said.

In Chile, the world’s largest producer of the red metal, mining companies have for years denounced the theft of products such as cathodes by specialized gangs, while the Investigative Police (PDI) has reported various operations in which several tons of gold have been recovered. ore from illegal

In statements published by Cooperativa radio, police captain Gonzalo García, from the first San Antonio police station, said that the robbery “It was quite a planned job. They cut the security cameras and once the cameras were cut the other part of the gang entered to intimidate the guards and the workers”.

“At the time of the intimidation, trucks began to enter to be able to remove the containers from inside, and for this they must have used 13 trucks and the same number came out. It is a gang that may be working in San Antonio because we have other crimes with similar characteristics in their way of operating.”, he added.

Police said the cargo was valued at about 3.6 billion Chilean pesos.

Last October, Chilean authorities had announced they would beef up security on trains carrying copper cathodes through the vast north of the country after a series of robberies blamed on international organized crime gangs.

Source: Reuters