The Federal Police (PF), together with the IRSand cooperation agencies from Europe and Paraguay, launched Operation Hinterland, this Thursday, the 30th, to combat international drug trafficking from South America to Europe.
During two years of investigation, the police proved that the gang moved 17 tons of cocaine destined for Europe. The PF informed that during the period it seized 12 tons of the drug.
The police action complied with more than 530 court orders, including preventive arrest warrants, search and seizure, seizure of assets and blocking of bank accounts. According to the PF, the measures adopted will decapitalize the criminal organization. The expectation is that the amounts blocked in the accounts of those investigated will reach R$ 3.8 billion.
The main target is a criminal organization that uses two maritime logistics companies based in the ports of Rio Grande, in Rio Grande do Sul, and Itajaí, Santa Catarina.
In Brazil, police officers served 17 preventive arrest warrants and 37 search and seizure warrants, in five Brazilian states and in the city of Asunción, Paraguay.
Operation Hinterland began in 2021, after the seizure of 300 kilos of cocaine in the city of Hamburg, Germany, from the Port of Rio Grande. Investigations revealed that the drug was produced in Bolivia, transported to Brazil by a Paraguayan supplier and entered the country through Ponta Porã, in Mato Grosso do Sul. Later, it was transported in trucks to Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina and stored in the criminal organization’s own companies.
Cocaine was inserted into regular loads with the intervention and coordination of the top management of the logistics companies, without the knowledge of the contractors and owners of the licit loads. The objective was to use inputs that could mask the drug when subjected to customs controls.
On the European continent, the group buying the drug stole part of the regular load that contained cocaine for distribution in different countries.