Police crack down on international drug trafficking in Santa Catarina

With the support of federal revenue customs agents, police launched the operation “Shipping Box” on June 10, whose objective was to dismantle a large criminal international drug trafficking organization installed in the south of the country that was shipping large shipments of cocaine from various ports in Brazil. During the investigations, approximately 6 tons of cocaine were seized and 8 people arrested, caught red-handed.

About 250 police officers are serving 34 arrest warrants and 50 search and seizure warrants in 15 cities in the states of Santa Catarina (Joinville, Itapoá, Jaraguá do Sul, São Francisco do Sul, Itajaí, Navegantes, Balneário Piçarras, Barra Velha, Itapema, Canelinhas, and Criciúma), Paraná (Paranaguá), Rio Grande do Sul (Rio Grande), São Paulo (Mogi Mirim), and Rio de Janeiro (Cabo Frio).

The police discovered that to ship the drugs, the criminal organization used several methods. These included the co-option of port workers facilitating the entry of the narcotic, the creation of false compartments in trucks to transport drug dealers and cargoes of drugs to inside the port environment, and even the creation of container loading and transport logistics companies to attract the export of legal cargo that would give rise to the opportunity of grafting and shipping cocaine. Part of the cocaine shipments coming from Bolivia was placed in containers onboard ships to Europe, another part was pulverized to supply criminal organizations dedicated to trafficking, for their internal consumption.

In compliance with the police’s directive towards the dismantling of assets from organized crime, 68 vehicles, 23 properties, and 2 vessels are being seized, and 30 bank accounts of several people investigated are being blocked. The police have already detected indications of a money-laundering scheme by some of those investigated through the constitution of fictitious companies and the acquisition of assets such as gold and even cryptocurrencies.

Sharing is caring!