Brazil’s Federal Police launches anti-drugs operation in nine countries

Brazil’s Federal Police initiated on Thursday morning (Mar. 20) Operation Monte Pollino in an attempt to dismantle a criminal organization that specializes in smuggling cocaine from South America into Europe. Approximately 70 federal police officers are taking part in the action in Brazil.

Arrest orders were executed simultaneously in Brazil and Italy, and search warrants were carried out in Spain, Portugal, the UK, the Netherlands, Serbia, Montenegro and Peru, with the support of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and the attachés of Brazil’s Federal Police in England, Italy and Spain.

Twelve people were arrested, ten of whom in Brazil, one in Spain, and one in Italy. Eight people have been charged and are still on the run in Brazil and abroad.

In addition to those arrested today, six other people were detained in flagrante delicto since the investigation started in Brazil. Around 1.3 tons of cocaine were seized, along with $760 thousand. At the request of the Federal Police, the Justice of the city of Santos, São Paulo, has ordered the seizure of $1.280 million worth of real estate and vehicles that belong to the criminal organization.

The investigation started in February, 2013, when Italy, upon detecting the criminal scheme, requested the international legal cooperation of Brazil’s Federal Police. According to investigators, the Brazilian criminal organization obtained the drug in Peru and Bolivia and smuggled it into Brazil, where it was subsequently loaded onto cargo ships and sent to several European ports.

The group, whose members come from Brazil, Chile, Bolivia and Europe, was based in the port city of Santos, in the state of São Paulo. They carried out all the tasks necessary for the exportation of the drug: its purchase, reception in Brazil, packaging, and loading on ships bound for Europe. Ships usually set off from Santos.

According to the Federal Police, Italy was the chief destination of the drug. Its buyers are members of the Ndrangheta mafia, in Calabria – the target of Operation Bongustaio, the Italian investigation.

Suspects will be charged with the crimes of international drug trafficking, association for trafficking, financing of transnational drug trafficking, with sentences ranging from three to thirty years of detention.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira