Disjointed drug trafficking scheme to Portugal from a Brazilian airport
The Brazilian Federal Police (PF) dismantled an international drug trafficking scheme from an airport in São Paulo, which had Portugal as its main destination, according to police sources this Monday.
In this sense, a PF triggered Operation Lavaggio II, which is the fourth phase of Operation Overload and which aimed to deepen investigations into money laundering crimes committed by persons involved in international drug trafficking from the International Airport of Viracopos, in the state Brazilian from São Paulo.
“The investigation originated as a result of elements obtained during Operation Overload, triggered in October 2020, and aims to identify assets acquired with proceeds from the activities of the criminal organization, as well as other requirements that were authorized to use their names for hide them, “explained the PF in a statement.
In the operation, six search and seizure warrants, issued by the Federal Court in Campinas, were fulfilled: four in Mato Grosso and two in São Paulo.
In addition, a man was pre-emptively arrested, having been found at one of the addresses where search and seizure warrants were carried out in Mato Grosso.
The preventive arrest warrant against this man had already been issued under Operation Overload, but he was a fugitive.
A rifle, a pistol, various ammunition, 50 thousand reais (7,750 euros) in banknotes and three luxury watches were also seized in the operation.
“Portugal was the main destination of this scheme. All the drugs that left here had Portugal as their main destination, as well as Orly, in France,” Edson Geraldo de Souza, head of the Federal Police station in Campinas, the municipality where it is located, told Lusa Viracopos International Airport.
In this scheme, Viracopos International Airport was used to send large shipments of drugs to Europe.
Operation Lavaggio II is the fourth offshoot of Operation Overload and is the result of the Federal Police’s work to decapitalize criminal associations focused on drug trafficking.