Brazil launches new operation against international drug trafficking

Brazil’s Federal Police initiated on Tuesday (Apr. 15) an action named Operation Scorpion (Portuguese: Operação Escorpião) in an effort to dismantle international drug trafficking organizations. So far, 43 preventive detention orders  have been carried out, along with 52 search and seizure warrants in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraná.

According to the Federal Police, members of the organizations investigated traded in Araraquara and Ribeirão Preto, in São Paulo, where illegal drugs brought over from Bolivia and Paraguay were commercialized. Some of the substances also headed for Minas Gerais.

Over 200 Federal Police agents executed warrants from Brazilian courts, which have also ordered that the access to amounts of money deposited in several bank accounts should be blocked.

The Federal Police further reported that Operation Scorpion has been conducted as part of a series of measures, launched in February last year, which aim to dismantle international drug trafficking organizations.  Up to now, 26 people have been arrested, 380 kg of cocaine have been seized, along with 130 kg of marijuana, 500 tabs of LSD, four guns, 28 vehicles and nearly $46 thousand. The illegal substances seized come into Brazil through the national borders in Foz do Iguaçu, in Paraná; Ponta Poã and Corumbá, in Mato Grosso do Sul; and also Cáceres, in Mato Grosso.

Suspects are being charged with international drug trafficking and criminal conspiracy.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira