“At 04:30 (Bolivia time) today (Wednesday) a King Long minibus, red, with license plate 5599-ZGN, which contained 18,000 kilograms of pork, was seized with an impact on smuggling of approximately 540,000 bolivianos (77,142 dollars),” the Command said in a press release.

The official report noted that during the operation, an undocumented means of transport, which was transporting the meat to Peru, was observed parked on a street adjacent to the main Guaqui-Desaguadero highway.

It added that during one of the inspections by the Deputy Ministry of the Fight against Smuggling Patrol, the confiscation of another vehicle with license plate 4732-ZYG, which was carrying approximately 18 pieces of pork, was reported in the area of the Guaqui Checkpoint.

According to reports, the vehicle is in the vicinity of the Guaqui Checkpoint to be handed over to the relevant authorities.

These interdiction operations are carried out in the context of the so-called Sovereignty Plan, through which the national Government instructed the militarization of border areas with the objective of stopping the illegal transfer of Bolivian products abroad, where they are sold at prices several times higher.

This is the situation with pork, whose demand multiplies on the eve of the end-of-year holidays, as do its prices.

Bolivian Government sources insist that reverse smuggling causes producers and sellers to prefer to ‘hide’ their goods or take them to neighboring countries, with the corresponding shortage and an artificial inflation, which the Government calls “imported.”

Pig farmers, in turn, denounced that pork is one of the most smuggled meats, because its price in Bolivian markets is quite affordable, and merchants and intermediaries prefer the higher prices from neighboring countries.

However, with military control at the borders, it is intended to prevent this illicit activity in defense of food sovereignty, one of the main objectives of the policies of the Government of President Luis Arce.

jg/arc/jpm