On August 23, special agents of the Paraguayan National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD, in Spanish) intercepted a truck carrying 1,074 kilograms of marijuana hidden in wooden furniture.
During Operation Maracaná, agents monitored a woman who had prepared the furniture, hidden the drug inside it, and hired a transport service to move it. The truck would take the cocaine from San Pedro department to the city of Encarnación, on the border with Argentina, the drug’s final destination.
Authorities intercepted the vehicle in the city of Guayaibí, San Pedro. “So far, we have arrested two people: the vehicle’s driver and a woman who is allegedly responsible for the shipment,” SENAD said in a press release.
On August 22, during Operation Karumbe, narcotics agents captured four people who were transporting almost 123 kg of cocaine hidden inside a truck’s false-bottom.
“These people probably entered the country from Bolivia, carrying cocaine packages hidden inside compartments under the back seats,” SENAD said. Service members intercepted the vehicle on the road connecting the cities of La Patria and Mariscal Estigarribia, in the Paraguayan Chaco region.
Authorities also stepped up the fight against microtrafficking — the sale of drugs on a smaller scale. On August 20, agents seized 800 doses of cocaine that were hidden in a rented apartment in the city of Villa Elisa, Central department.