On October 23, agents of the Paraguayan National Anti-Drug Secretariat (SENAD, in Spanish) intercepted a truck carrying 10,039 kilograms of marijuana hidden in 449 packages.
Authorities seized the drug in the town of Pirapó, Itapúa department, located about 7 kilometers from Ruta 6, a road that connects the cities of Encarnación and Ciudad del Este, in the Tri-border area.
“The shipment was bound for Argentina,” SENAD indicated in a press release. Paraguay’s Office of the Attorney General also took part in the operation. Intelligence showed that a blue truck was supposed to leave that day with a marijuana shipment from the Bella Vista area, Itapúa, toward the Argentine border, the newspaper ABC reported.
Agents located the truck and began the search. “Upon inspecting the vehicle, they noticed that there was a substantial marijuana shipment under the tarp,” the newspaper Última Hora reported.
The packaging had a logo with the letters P.C.F., framed with a dragon. The Office of the Attorney General is investigating its origin.
Authorities arrested the truck driver and his two companions, who were taken to the Paraguayan Navy base in Encarnación, together with the drugs. The three detainees will face narcotrafficking charges.
On October 22, SENAD carried out simultaneous operations to disrupt marijuana production and storage in Amambay, Canindeyú, and Alto Paraná departments.
“The objective is to financially and logistically damage the structures of these narcotrafficking groups,” SENAD indicated. “On the first day, we destroyed more than 3.5 tons of the drug.”
On the same day, agents also destroyed 23 hectares of marijuana plantations, equivalent to 69 tons of the processed drug, the website Amambay Ahora reported.
One of the operations took place in the Colonia Santa Ana area, in Amambay, where agents destroyed illicit crops. Another group of agents raided the Mbaracayú Forest Natural Reserve, Canindeyú, near the border with Brazil, where criminals cut down forests to plant cannabis.
