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The National Customs Service successfully seized a shipment of CLP 10,398,850 in currently circulating currency at the Port of Valparaíso. The cargo was being passed off as scrap metal for export and its destination was China.
Through a statement, the Valparaíso Customs specified that there were a total of 1,039,785 coins weighing 3,653 kilograms.
Regarding the procedure, it was added that "in an extra-port warehouse in Valparaíso, a container with 20 sacks was thoroughly inspected by specialized Customs teams and the Port Crime Brigade (Briderpo) of the PDI, detecting that the 'red bronze' scrap metal declared by the exporter was mixed with over a million 10-peso Chilean coins."
"This is equivalent to approximately US$12,000, and the act constitutes an infringement of Article 168, paragraph 3, of the Customs Ordinance, in addition to Law 21,632 for the crime of smuggling money without declaration to Customs for notification to the Financial Analysis Unit (UAF)," the circular added.
In this regard, the Director of the Valparaíso Regional Customs, Braulio Cubillos, assured that "the foreign trade analysis work carried out by our automatic filters and officials allows us to detect and intercept all types of suspicious cargo. In this case, it was an attempt to take more than 10 thousand dollars in cash out of the country, which was not declared as required by the cross-border currency transport regulations and, furthermore, was inside a scrap metal shipment, which would evidence a crime that is being investigated."
Meanwhile, the Chief Prosecutor of Valparaíso, Elizardo Tapia, explained that "an investigation is underway for possible crimes of smuggling and money laundering related to facts in which an industrial waste recycling company appears to be involved, who, through irregular declarations, intended to export 10-peso legal tender coins in Chile, declaring them as metallic waste."
Finally, it was communicated that "the case is being investigated by prosecutor Felipe González, of the Valparaíso Regional Prosecutor's Office, along with Briderpo, and was reported to the UAF. By order of the prosecutor's office, all the money will be placed under the custody of BancoEstado," the letter concluded.
