In just five days, the Paraguayan National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD, in Spanish) took more than 13 tons of marijuana out of circulation. On September 30, 2021, agents arrested two Brazilians and two Paraguayans as they were negotiating the delivery of 1,198 kilograms of marijuana.
Authorities caught the individuals inside two vehicles at a shopping mall parking lot in Pedro Juan Caballero, Paraguay. One of the vehicles was full of drugs packed in boxes, even on the passenger seats. “The shipment was destined for Brazilian criminal factions,” SENAD said in a statement.
In another operation on September 26, SENAD entered a rural area in Colonia Britez Cué, Canindeyú department, and found a camp for marijuana production and storage. Agents seized 550 kg of chopped marijuana and two rustic presses. They also destroyed four hectares of marijuana crops. “With this, the drug removed from circulation amounts to nearly 12.5 tons,” Agencia de Información Paraguaya reported.
Narco-packages
Trophies, a picture, and even a clock were some of the five narco-packages that SENAD found in recent weeks at the Silvio Pettirossi International Airport.
On September 29, anti-drug agents told the press how traffickers devised ways to send drugs overseas. A clock bound for Great Britain, for example, contained 512 grams of cocaine hydrochloride.
Another package, bound for the same destination, had four trophies that contained 1 kg of cocaine hydrochloride, the Paraguayan newspaper Última Hora reported. The third box, which was also destined for shipment to Great Britain, contained other trophies with 250 grams of cocaine inside.
A wall painting that was bound for Ireland also raised suspicions among agents. When they opened it, they saw it contained slats with 504 grams of cocaine, SENAD reported.
Finally, agents intercepted a package coming from the United States that contained an air purifier that was concealing 12.6 kg of hashish with a high concentration of THC. “The destination was probably the Tri-border area, where its value is close to $60,000,” Última Hora reported. SENAD conducted the operations jointly with Paraguay’s National Directorate of Civil Aviation and the National Customs Directorate.
