In less than a week, 549.5 kilos of cocaine were seized in ports located in Ceará, in the Northeast region of Brazil. The seizures were made in two significant operations conducted by the Federal Revenue Service. The drugs were destined for Japan and Portugal; however, in the first case, the vessel was scheduled to make a stop in France.

The seizures are part of Operation Carcará 1. In the first action, carried out at the Port of Mucuripe, 416 kilos of cocaine were found inside a shipment of carnauba wax, which was ultimately destined for Japan. However, according to authorities, there would have been a stop in France.

During the operation, the Federal Revenue Service’s sniffer dogs detected contamination in the pallets. The packages had been strategically designed by criminals to conceal the narcotics.

A few days later, the Federal Revenue Service made another seizure, this time of 133.5 kilos of cocaine at the Port of Pecém, in São Gonçalo do Amarante, in the Metropolitan Region of Fortaleza. The drugs were hidden in a container loaded with frozen mango pulp. In this case, the shipment was destined for Portugal.

According to the Federal Revenue Service, the cocaine seizure resulted from an information exchange between customs authorities from Belgium and Brazil. Based on this intelligence, the container was selected for inspection.

Following inspection procedures, bricks of cocaine hidden inside metallic pallets were also discovered. All the narcotics were handed over to law enforcement authorities, who will continue investigations.

Route Changes
Drug traffickers are always aware of enforcement actions and constantly seek new ways to conceal drugs. Experts suggest that, due to the high volume of seizures at the Port of Santos, the largest in Brazil, ports in the Northeast region have increasingly been used as routes for international drug trafficking.

This shift has been observed for several years. As a result, intelligence operations cross-referencing data on cargo, exporters, importers, origins, and destinations have been increasingly employed by authorities throughout Brazil. The objective is to prevent the shipment of drugs to other countries, particularly in Europe, which remains a well-established trafficking route.