The Federal Police (PF) carried out this Tuesday (18) 16 preventive arrest warrants, in Guarulhos and São Paulo, of the executors and principals of three cases of international drug trafficking that resulted in the shipment of 120 kilos of cocaine to Europe , through Guarulhos International Airport. Two people are on the run, being a principal and an executor, whose warrants are temporary arrest, completing 18 warrants. One of the cases took place in March of this year, when two Brazilian women were unfairly imprisoned for 38 days in a jail in Frankfurt, Germany, after the German police found cocaine in bags that had the names of the Brazilian women. Investigations showed that the suitcases were not theirs and that the identification tags were removed from their luggage and placed in others that contained the drug. The PF confirmed this exchange of labels and demonstrated the innocence of the Brazilian women, who, after sending the evidence to the German authorities, were released and returned to Brazil. Those responsible, who worked at the airport, were identified and arrested. According to the PF, investigations showed that the criminal organization also sent the narcotic to Portugal, in October 2022, and to France, in March of this year. However, the PF believes that there were numerous similar cases, because the group had already been working at the terminal for at least two years. “In the first phase in April, we were able to identify the other two events and the principals and executors through the evidence. I believe that in the next few days we will be able to arrest the two who are on the run and, based on the evidence we collected today, identify more involved”, said PF delegate Felipe Faé Lavareda de Souza. According to Lavareda, the executors are airport employees. The principals did not work at the terminal, despite having already worked there. Their role was to plan and organize the action and mediate the drug. The group acted forming a group of those who would be working in the terminal on the day of the flight to the destination of interest. “Then they simulate a luggage check-in at the national terminal, the drug is sent to the restricted area at the airport and inside, someone takes this drug and diverts it to the international sector, where the luggage is shipped to Europe normally”, he explained. . According to the delegate, at the destination, the operation was repeated and, as soon as all the passengers finished removing their bags from the conveyor belt, the members of the group at the scene took the luggage that was left with the drug, removed it before, or let it go to the sector of lost. “The group operating at the destination airport is being investigated. We are in constant conversation, always exchanging information with the European authorities to find out who is funding all this, ”he said. For the PF, it is possible that there is a relationship between the group and a criminal faction in São Paulo. In addition to the arrest warrants, the PF carried out, in the second phase of the Collateral Operation, 27 search and seizure warrants. In the first phase, there were eight searches and seven arrested. Measures As part of measures to prevent this type of crime, the use of cell phones in indoor areas was prohibited, which would have already helped to reduce the number of cases. According to Cristiano Pádua da Silva, delegate of the Regional Judiciary Police of the PF, the police have no responsibility to act to implement such measures, with the airlines and the airport concessionaire being responsible for establishing the guidelines for this. “What we can do is advise that a strict selection of the workers who will be hired for this service be carried out. We also know that body cameras are gradually being implemented for employees who work in these functions, especially in restricted areas”, said Pádua.
Agência Brasil
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