Brazil’s Police investigate business group for using Rio Grande port as cocaine outlet

The Brazilian Federal Police, with the aid of the Federal Revenue, launched an operation against a criminal organization suspected of using the Port of Rio Grande, in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, to traffic cocaine to Europe.

The Federal Revenue announced it found evidence of the involvement of “one of the main port logistics groups in southern Brazil with international drug trafficking” and that it used the money obtained from criminal activities in investments and planned to acquire concession rights for port operations. The name of the group was not disclosed.

According to the Federal Police, in two years of investigation, it was proven that the group transported 17 tonnes of the drug using the largest port in Rio Grande do Sul. Of that total, 12 tonnes were confiscated. The business group used maritime logistics companies based in Rio Grande and Itajaí.

Authorities are executing 17 preventive arrest warrants and 37 search and seizure warrants in Brazil’s southernmost state, as well as in  Santa Catarina, Paraná, Amazonas, and Rondônia, in addition to  Asunción, in Paraguay.

The authorities also confiscated 87 real estate properties, 173 vehicles, and one aircraft valued at more than BRL 500 million, on top of seizing bank accounts linked to 147 social security numbers and business registries, 66 real estate transactions, and prohibiting the transit of animals by four investigated suspects, totaling 534 court orders.

Criminal plot 

The investigation began in March 2021, based on information received by the Federal Police that 316 kilos of cocaine were seized in the city of Hamburg, Germany, in December 2020, from the Port of Rio Grande.

The investigation indicated that the drug was produced in Bolivia and sent to Brazil by a Paraguayan middleman. It entered the country at the border in Ponta Porã. Thereon, the cocaine was transported in trucks to Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, stored in the criminal organization’s own companies or warehouses near the ports of Rio Grande and Itajaí.

The drug was inserted into regular shipment loads with the coordination of the logistics companies, without the knowledge of the contractors, who owned the regular cargo (which could often mask the drug’s presence during customs control). In Europe, drug buyers stole part of the legal cargo where the cocaine was hidden. It was then distributed to several countries in Europe.

Criminal group 

The Federal Revenue observed a discrepancy between the capital of several businesses involved in the criminal plot and the revenue generated by their economic activity. Therefore, money laundering was the authorities’ main suspicion.

The Revenue authorities also identified shell companies and hustlers that were used to hide the origin of the resources obtained illegally and goods purchased by members of the criminal organization. In addition, there were export transactions that were inconsistent from a commercial point of view. The investigators suspect that the purpose was to cover up the sending of illegal cargo abroad.

Source: G1

To read the original text, please go to: https://g1.globo.com/rs/rio-grande-do-sul/noticia/2023/03/30/pf-faz-operacao-contra-grupo-empresarial-suspeito-de-usar-maior-porto-do-rs-para-contrabandear-toneladas-de-cocaina-para-a-europa.ghtml

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