- Chilean authorities found drug-impregnated wood as part of the country’s largest-ever narcotics seizure, which uncovered 108 tons of cocaine and ketamine in cargoes of timber, according to officials.
- In neighboring Bolivia, the origin of the so-called “narco-timber,” raids were conducted at sawmills in the departments of Santa Cruz, Pando, Beni and La Paz. The investigation is also expected to expand to Cochabamba.
- The method to impregnate drugs in forest-sourced wood is seen as highly sophisticated and makes it difficult for authorities and even trained canines to detect.
- Part of the wood used by criminal networks comes from Amazonian regions in Bolivia, posing risks to tropical forests.
A new case has exposed the connection between drug trafficking webs and the export of timber from the Amazon and other regions of Bolivia. After Chile announced in June the largest drug seizure — 108 tons of cocaine and ketamine — in its history, authorities confirmed the substances were detected impregnated in Bolivian wood planks. This is not the first time shipments of the so-called “narco-timber” have been caught: The illicit practice dates back at least 20 years, using the same recurring routes.
Mongabay accessed prosecutorial sources in both Chile and Bolivia, two Andean nations in South America sharing a land border of 861 kilometers (535 miles). According to investigations in Chile, 32 shipments were made from Bolivia by 15 timber companies, mostly in 2026. In financial terms, the total amount of drugs moved through this system had a value exceeding $8.3 billion in international markets, according to the breakdown.
“It is a six-month investigation developed by the Prosecutor’s Office of Arica [a northern Commune], the Maritime Police, and the National Customs Service of Chile, which culminated in the detection of 45 contaminated containers [with drugs] in the ports of Arica, Valparaíso, and San Antonio,” the Prosecutor’s Office of Arica and Parinacota stated in a report.
The timber shipments departed from Bolivia, mainly from the departments of Pando, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Beni and La Paz. The cargoes had ports in Europe, North America, Africa and the Caribbean as a destination. Container movements mostly occurred between January and April 2026 — with the first documented withdrawal dating back to Jan. 13, and the last record checked to April 6.
In official reports, the Chilean Prosecutor’s Office said drug trafficking groups using Bolivia’s natural resources selected Chile as a transit country due to the proximity to Chilean ports in the Pacific Ocean.
“All containers come from Bolivia; Within the country, the most common area is [the department of] Pando, which borders Brazil [Amazon]. It is the most habitual place [for tree extraction]. Still, it is not the only one: We also have [the departments of] Santa Cruz and Cochabamba,” Mario Carrera, a regional prosecutor of Arica and Parinacota, told the press.
The prosecutor said the work of impregnating the wood was carried out in Bolivian departments, mainly in Pando, a purely Amazonian region. “Had it reached its destination, the drug would have to be extracted through advanced chemical processes requiring specialized laboratories,” Carrera said.
The trees and the process
Omar Barrientos, a Bolivian-based lawyer specializing in drug trafficking issues, told Mongabay that the transport of this impregnated wood requires at least five million trees to be felled — representing 1,280 tons of the wood seized in the operation in Chile. “This is a business with millionaire profits. Billions of dollars are moving using the country’s forest resources,” the expert said.
According to Barrientos, the identified forestry companies are legally constituted and were used by criminals to register shipments and cross the border in formal terms.
The wood species used are tajibo or lapacho (scientific names Handroanthus or Tabebuia), found in the departments of Pando, Beni and Santa Cruz; however, there was also almendrillo (Dipteryx odorata), typically found in the tropics of Cochabamba (center Bolivia), a coca leaf-plantation area. Both trees are native species of Bolivia.
A Bolivian prosecutor consulted by Mongabay said that between 10% and 15% of the impregnated drug can be recovered from the wood. “Even up to 30% of drugs can be discovered, depending on the technology used by the drug trafficking mafias,” he said.
The prosecutor said that the case consists of a chain of illegal acts. First, he said, it must be proven how the wood left forestal areas. The planks supposedly left under legal documentation. “Then, sawmills where the drug was impregnated must be verified. In this process, there are some [identified sawmills] in Pando, the city of El Alto [neighboring La Paz], Santa Cruz, and Cochabamba.”
The process of impregnating drugs into wood requires modern techniques, which makes it undetectable to scanners. Even trained drug-detecting canines using their sense of smell can miss it. The narcotic is permeated into the wood using an advanced chemical absorption process that takes advantage of the material’s natural porosity.
First, according to the Chilean Prosecutor’s Office, the wood undergoes a dehydration phase, being subjected to extreme heat so that all the moisture is removed. Then, through a vacuum and pressure process, the drug is introduced in a liquid state into its pores and fibers. To extract the drug at the destination, they apply the same process in reverse. Receivers use chemical solvents, acids, or bases to dissolve the drug and then separate it from the wood through filtration, crystallization, and evaporation.
Companies under fire
In Pando, in two sawmills, officials seized accounting documentation and personnel records, while collecting raw wood samples. “This type of transportation [of contaminated wood] has been going on for many years, but what was recently found is the largest seizure in history [of Chile]. It should worry us all,” the prosecutor said.
The president of Bolivia’s Forestry Chamber, Pedro Colanzi, told Mongabay that the magnitude of the drug discovery in timber and the new methods used by drug traffickers require deep investigations to avoid disturbing the industry and related jobs. According to Colanzi, it generates 200,000 direct and indirect jobs in Bolivia.
“We went to the Minister of Government [Marco Oviedo] to request an international expert assessment of what is happening in Chile. To our surprise, we learned about the case through the media, and not through official channels. This expert assessment must identify the real culprits, who must be punished with the full rigor of the law,” Colanzi said.
Mongabay contacted the Bolivian Ministry of Government for comment regarding the investigation, but received no response before publication.
During raids and seizures at sawmills and timber firms, the Bolivian Prosecutor’s Office said it had collected samples of wood and conducted vacuum tests to verify whether the drug was in those facilities.
“This is 100% [consisted of] intelligence and investigative work. No discovery happened by chance,” Prosecutor Carrera stated. The technical verification was carried out by the local Public Health Institute, with the support of canine teams and specialized scanner technology. The cargoes had at least 15 countries as destinations.
Other cases involving wood impregnated with drugs
This is the latest case in a series known since 2007. Nearly two decades ago, 20 kilograms (44 pounds) of cocaine impregnated in wood destined for Greece was found in Chile. In 2014, 123 kg (271 lbs) of cocaine was seized in the city of Oruro, Bolivia, destined for Lebanon using the same method. In 2015, 822 kg (1,812 lbs) of drug-impregnated wood destined for France was seized. In 2019, 679 kg (1,497 lbs) was seized in Chile, destined for Belgium. Then in 2020, 1,435 kg (3,163 lbs) of drugs was found in the city of El Alto, with Belgium territory also being the destination.
In 2023, 322 kg (709 lbs) of cocaine inserted in wood was found in Chile, destined for the United Arab Emirates. A year later, 8.7 tons of drugs in wood were found in Chile, destined for the Netherlands. Later, in 2025, authorities seized 700 kg (1,543 lbs) of cocaine in Chile, but the destination was unknown. The last verified case involved 108 tons.
Banner Image: A Chile-run anti-drug operation seized 108 tons of controlled substances impregnated in wood planks from sawmill trees sourced in the Bolivian Amazon and other regions. Image courtesy of APG Noticias.
The story was first published in Spanish here on June 19, 2026.
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