In just three days, the Brazilian Federal Police (PF, in Portuguese) seized 2,510 kilograms of cocaine at the Port of Santos, on the coast of São Paulo.
On December 29, with the support of the Brazilian Revenue Service (RFB, in Portuguese), PF agents seized 715 kg of cocaine at one of the port terminals. “The drug was hidden in a cargo of sugar on a ship bound for Durban Port in South Africa,” the PF said in a statement. “It was a laborious operation that began in the morning and ended at night,” the RFB said.
On December 28, PF agents seized more than 1 ton of cocaine in two operations at the same port. In one operation, authorities found the drug hidden in a cargo of sugar on a ship bound for a port in Ghana, Africa. “A total of 504 kg of narcotics were seized on this ship,” the PF said.
In the other, the criminals had hidden the drug inside a cargo of concentrated orange juice. PF agents removed 730 kg of cocaine from the ship, which was bound for the Port of Valencia, Spain.
“The PF did not disclose the origin of the narcotic. In the last four years, however, Mato Grosso do Sul has become an established route for cocaine that enters Brazil from Paraguay, with the European market as its destination,” the Brazilian newspaper Correio do Estado reported.
On December 27, PF and RFB agents seized another 561 kg of cocaine in the Port of Santos. The drug was hidden in a ship with a cargo of coffee beans bound for the Port of Le Havre in France, the PF indicated.
The Port of Santos is Brazil’s largest port and the busiest in Latin America, according to its official website. The RFB said it intercepted about 17 tons of cocaine at that port alone in 2021.
Narcotrafficking organization
On December 16, the PF launched Operation Weizen-3 to dismantle a criminal group that engages in narcotrafficking in Cascavel, Paraná.
Authorities had already arrested five members of the criminal group in August 2020, when police officers seized a truck carrying 3.5 tons of marijuana. A sixth suspect was arrested in October 2020. Now, with Weizen-3, the PF said it intends to put an end to the organization.
“Searches and seizures were carried out at the residence of two new suspects to gather evidence that would allow for the rest of the gang to be dismantled and cease criminal activities,” the PF said. According to the investigations, the group used food companies as drug distribution centers.
The name of the operation, Weizen (wheat in German), refers to the warehouse, which was mainly used to store wheat, where authorities seized the drugs, the PF said.