The Paraguayan National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD, in Spanish) began its activities in 2021 by seizing 8.7 tons of marijuana in Canindeyú department. During the January 8 operation, agents seized 5,550 kilograms of chopped marijuana and 3,136 kg of pressed marijuana.
For this, we entered a rural area known as Karupera, in Yby Pytã district,” SENAD said in a press release. The district is located just a few kilometers from the border with Brazil, the likely destination of the drug.
On January 14, together with the Paraguayan Navy, SENAD agents confiscated 149 kg of marijuana during a river patrol in Salto del Guairá city, Canindeyú department.
“We seized the cargo near the [Paraná] River, ready to enter Brazil,” SENAD said. “The drug likely belongs to a group of narcotraffickers who operate in riverine areas.”
On January 19, troops located a house used to store marijuana in Presidente Franco City, Paraguay, on the border with Puerto Iguazú, Argentina, and Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.
“A 46-year-old man was arrested with 100 kg of marijuana,” said the force, which confiscated the truck used to transport the shipments to the border area.
During another operation, on January 20, troops destroyed almost 10 tons of illicit cannabis crops in a forest area in Bella Vista, Caaguazú department.
“The drug was hidden in a makeshift camp. In addition to the chopped and pressed marijuana, we destroyed 3 hectares [of cannabis crops],” SENAD reported.
In late December, wrapping up the 2020 cycle of fight against narcotrafficking, Paraguayan authorities incinerated 18 tons of marijuana in Itapúa department, also on the border with Argentina.
According to the Paraguayan news portal Unicanal, the drug had been seized in various operations carried out by the Anti-Narcotics Prosecution Unit.
Paraguay continues to be the country with the highest amounts of cannabis seizures, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s World Drug Report 2020. The drug’s main destinations are Brazil (77 percent) and Argentina (20 percent), the report said.
