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"The ISIS of Cayucupil": The Wiretaps Revealing the Violent Timber Theft in Arauco

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• Since May 2022, the Biobío Prosecutor's Office and the PDI (Investigative Police) have intercepted a series of phone calls to uncover those behind the violent phenomenon of timber theft and trafficking in the southern part of the region. This is how they discovered that the leaders of these gangs have armed guards and the ease with which weapons are trafficked.

"Hey, is your shipment going alone or with an escort?" asked trucking businessman Pedro Melita Sáez (38) over the phone to Carlos Cigarroa Arriagada (42) at 11:45 p.m. on June 22, 2022. Melita's concern revolved around how they would safeguard the nighttime transport of stolen timber, which he frequently carried out for Cigarroa amid the police and military surveillance of the constitutional state of exception in place since October 2021 in the province of Arauco, south of the Biobío region.

Cigarroa's response, whose communications were being legally wiretapped by the PDI, was as brief as it was telling: "I have ISIS, the ISIS of Cayucupil." Cigarroa's comparison between his team of armed men and the Islamic State, a terrorist and paramilitary organization responsible for dozens of attacks and murders in the Middle East and Europe, was no coincidence.

Days earlier, on July 4, 2022, at 9:26 p.m., Cigarroa was worried about his safety and that of his children. So he called Jordan Mella Lobos (32), one of his four armed bodyguards who protected him at his home in Curanilahue and during his travels in Arauco. "Get down here with Brian because that damn red jeep was circling the neighborhood (...) And if you see him, just take him out, just take him out," Cigarroa told Mella. Mella replied: "Alright, pass me the piece (gun) then, so I can bring the shotgun and the piece."

Two days later, on July 6, 2022, Cigarroa asked Brian Sáez Betanzo (37), another of his soldiers, to follow a suspicious car through the streets of the commune. "Got it, there are two guys there, but whatever, I’ll just shoot them," replied Sáez while keeping watch, after which both concluded it was a false alarm.

Both episodes, according to investigation sources, revealed how Carlos Cigarroa had amassed power and how he feared losing it to the police and rival gangs operating in the area. Power that came from the million-dollar timber business he stole almost daily from the "Chacay" estate, located in the highlands of Cañete, where he ran a full-fledged operation with supervisors, truckers, falsified shipping documents, and accounting records kept in a school notebook.

The extensive wiretaps requested by Biobío prosecutor and rural violence specialist Juan Yáñez Martinich—accessed by La Tercera—expose the inner workings of criminal organizations operating in Arauco in recent years: a web of potential bribes, ties to Mapuche communities, arms trafficking, and shootouts.
A business that, according to the Chilean Timber Corporation (Corma), has caused losses of $167 billion to the industry in the last three years—a third of that in Arauco province alone. This is the same "red zone" where, on April 27, three police officers from Los Álamos were shot dead and their bodies found burned on the road between Cañete and Tirúa—crimes authorities attribute to organized crime, though no arrests have been made.

"I Know We’re Stealing"
Carlos Mauricio Cigarroa Arriagada was no stranger to Forestal Arauco, the company owning thousands of hectares of forest in the province of the same name, including the "Chacay" estate in Cayucupil, Cañete. The company made this clear in a September 7, 2021, legal complaint, reporting that during an aerial inspection, they spotted Cigarroa’s expensive Ford F-150 truck amid illegal timber extraction operations.

When police arrived, the company stated in the complaint, they were met with gunfire and abandoned the operation. Over the next three days, as the theft continued, officers "did not respond to the scene due to a lack of personnel." Industry sources estimate each stolen timber-laden truck trailer yields profits of $1,600,000.

It wasn’t until May 2022 that a confidential witness allowed prosecutor Yáñez Martinich to begin wiretapping phones and mapping a network of criminal organizations dedicated to the trade. "You have to understand that in Arauco, this crime is much bigger than some groups linked to Mapuche communities—far larger than what can be attributed to groups like Weichan Auka Mapu (WAM) and the Mapuche Lavkenche Resistance (RML)," an investigation source explained.

Among them was the group led by Cigarroa, who, directly and through his strategic partner, forestry businessman Juan Teuber Tobías (63), maintained strict control over his subordinates.
"I told him: Luis, let’s wise up, man... I don’t want to spend five months inside... I know we’re stealing, that this is theft, but at least let’s have something to defend ourselves with," Teuber complained in a June 2022 wiretap, lamenting the lack of falsified shipping documents to hide the timber’s illicit origin during inspections.

In another call, also in July 2022, Teuber heard concerns from his field operators about forestry surveillance flights. "I was thinking we should lay low tomorrow, maybe go standby for a bit," the worker said. Teuber responded confidently: "Nooo, we’ve been slacking this week... The cops are looking for other trucks."

Other intercepted calls, documented in PDI reports, revealed communications between Cigarroa and a man named "Javier," described as "a liaison between the organization’s leader and the indigenous community reclaiming forestry lands in Cayucupil."

"He ensures the community provides security for entering the estates and the logging areas, using masked men armed with firearms," reads one police report used to secure Cigarroa’s arrest warrant in August.

Cigarroa’s downfall came in stages. First, during the investigation, on November 22, 2022, police inspected his Jeep Grand Cherokee in Curanilahue and found a Taurus pistol with 17 rounds. Then, on April 4, 2023, he was charged for three vehicle thefts in 2021.

Finally, a new confidential witness sealed his fate. "I want to provide information about a gang working with a man named Carlos Cigarroa in Curanilahue," the witness said, accusing him of operating with three gunmen, one responsible for a homicide. On August 31, Cigarroa was arrested and charged with criminal conspiracy in a case still under seal. Explosives, detonators, and multiple firearms were seized from him and his men. He is now in pretrial detention in Concepción.

The Police Informants
The wiretaps also uncovered Celso Fonseca Rivas (29). "You working?" Fonseca asked at 8:26 p.m. on August 16, 2022, to a man the PDI knew only as "Person of Interest G." "Just heading home, bro," the unknown man replied.

"Listen, bro, I told the guys to bring some timber loads inside the park, near the gringa’s place, and now I’m going in with the crane, but some bastard was following me," Fonseca worriedly told his contact.

The response from "Person of Interest G" revealed an unknown angle to investigators about how timber theft and armed protection rackets operate in Arauco. A phenomenon that, according to Corma president Juan José Ugarte, has dropped 82% since September 2022, when timber theft was criminalized and industry traceability measures were implemented.

"Relax, bro, you know why? Because the cops are at the crime scene where they burned that shit in San José de Colico," the unknown man replied, referencing an arson attack on 10 forestry trucks hours earlier, 14 km from Curanilahue, claimed by WAM.

"And the guys doing route checks are going to relieve the ones on neighborhood patrol tonight, so there won’t be any route controls left here in Curanilahue," the person of interest added. It was Darwin Carrillo Rodríguez (33), a corporal at the Curanilahue police station at the time.
Carrillo and Luis Berna Toro, former head of the local police investigations unit, were charged and jailed on September 21 for criminal conspiracy after proving they "tipped off" Fonseca to avoid police checks, enabling his timber theft ring. What they received in return remains under investigation.

A Porsche and a Glock in Curanilahue
Celso Fonseca Rivas already had a criminal record in Arauco. In 2013, he was sentenced to three years and one day for robbing a gas station in Cañete. In 2018, he was jailed for armed robbery of a truck at the Pilpilco toll booth on Route 160 in Los Álamos but was acquitted when prosecutors dropped the case. That same year, he was shot in the thigh and buttocks but refused to report it.

"Celso is extremely violent, and we knew early on he was involved in firearms trafficking. He participates in various crimes, including timber theft and armed protection for other gangs," an investigation source said. Sources also claim his group included at least one active RML member. Wiretaps on his phone provided evidence.

"Look, it’s a nine with a wiped serial, the whole deal—an automatic nine with two magazines and four hundred rounds," an unidentified man casually told Fonseca on September 1, 2022, referring to a Chinese-made 9mm pistol and ammunition he was selling for $3 million in Curanilahue.

Days later, on September 3, Fonseca began reselling ammo boxes to associates, warning, "Sell just one to each, or they’ll start messing around." He also boasted about his shooting skills: "When we shoot, I’m the one who uses the most rounds—you guys fire two shots per magazine, I empty all of them."

The wiretaps also captured critical moments, like at 6:01 p.m. on September 12, 2022, when Fonseca received an emergency call. "We’re in the woods, man... We had them cornered... There were patrols coming from both sides," a panicked voice said.

"And we were carrying guns, the whole deal. The hills were crawling with cops, SWAT, armored vehicles," the man continued about their escape. "So what? The cops won’t chase you here, brother," Fonseca reassured him.

Ironically, Fonseca’s downfall came unexpectedly. On September 13, 2022, while police inspected vehicles on Route 160, a tipster warned them a stolen forestry crane truck would pass by. Police stopped it, finding the driver unlicensed and the passenger with an outstanding arrest warrant.

As they prepared to tow the crane, Fonseca and accomplices blocked the road with vehicles, assaulted an officer and the tipster, and escaped with the recovered truck.

Finally, on December 23, 2022, Fonseca was arrested at his home in a Curanilahue squat. Despite the area’s poverty, he owned luxury vehicles—a Ford F-150, a Porsche Cayenne—and a Glock 17 with 48 hollow-point 9mm rounds, designed to expand on impact.

This week, Fonseca was convicted for the violent crane theft and firearm possession, with sentencing on May 23. More charges await: last month, he was charged for the attempted murder of two forestry workers on August 26, 2022, in Curanilahue, and still faces trial as the leader of a timber theft ring.

Source:latercera.cl

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