MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil and Uruguay manage significant seizures of cocaine bound for Europe

In Uruguay one of the operations involved a vessel heading for Spain and the second a truck with half a ton of cocaine. Apparently the drug was dropped from an aircraft

Brazil and Uruguay have been quite active in their combat against the drug trade. In Brazil in the northeast of the country, the state of Pará, Federal Police seized 2,75 tons of pure cocaine bound for Europe, which has been considered one of the largest drug seizures in a port.

Meantime in Uruguay, port authorities in Montevideo seized 200 kilos of cocaine on board a vessel heading for Spain's Canary Islands, with a previous scheduled call at a Brazilian port. In a second operation the Highway police arrested a convoy of a truck, a car and a support vehicle transporting half a ton of cocaine hidden under general cargo.

The narcotics apparently was dropped from an aircraft in several bags, some 500 kilometers to the north of the country, picked up in a field and was being transported to Montevideo for its shipment overseas, allegedly. The investigation is ongoing.

The drugs seized in the Port Vila do Conde apparently had to be delivered in the city of Sines in Portugal. Federal Revenue agents confirmed that this was the largest-ever cocaine seizure recorded in a port. The drug was hidden in a container, camouflaged inside bags of soybean meal. The agents said that no one was arrested during the operation.

Federal Police has started an investigation, but this is not the first time the Port Vila do Conde is part of the supply chain. In 2021 and 2022, at least five tons of cocaine were found in Vila do Conde. The last seizure took place on October 5, 2022: agents found 320 kg of the drug amid a shipment of açaí berries.

Three people from Para and Portugal were arrested. One of them is Lieutenant Aderaldo Pereira de Freitas Neto, from the Military Police of Pará. They are facing charges of international drug trafficking, association with a criminal organization, and money laundering.

Investigations have shown that0 Freitas Neto was part of the gang of Ruben Oliveira, 38, Xuxas, considered one of the most active drug traffickers in Portugal, and of the Brazilian Sérgio Roberto de Carvalho, 63, also known as Major Carvalho, a former military police officer from Mato Grosso do Sul.

Carvalho is known in Europe as “the Brazilian Escobar.” The nickname refers to the Colombian international drug trafficker Pablo Escobar. The major was arrested in Hungary on June 21 this year and is expected to be extradited to Brazil. Xuxas was arrested a week later in Portugal.

In Uruguay the street value of the drugs caught has been estimated in some US$ 15 million. So far three persons have been arrested , none of the them with criminal records.