Bolivia arrests senior PCC member in Santa Cruz
Bolivian police arrested Marco de Oliveira Ferreira, a member of the PCC, in Santa Cruz following a domestic incident. The Brazilian was living under a false identity.
Senior PCC commander captured in Santa Cruz after domestic incident
According to infobae.com, Bolivian police detained a "senior member" of the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) in the eastern city of Santa Cruz. The arrested man is Marco de Oliveira Ferreira, a Brazilian citizen who was in Bolivian territory irregularly and under a false identity.
Bolivia's police commander, Adrián Álvarez, confirmed that Ferreira left Brazil with "an extensive criminal record for drug trafficking, contract killings and organised crime", and that three conviction warrants are outstanding against him in his country of origin.
Officers arrived at the scene in response to a "domestic incident" reported in a popular area of Santa Cruz. During the intervention, they discovered that the person involved was the Brazilian wanted by the police intelligence unit. Álvarez stated that all current protocols were followed and that an expulsion order was issued, to be executed in the following hours.
The detention comes as part of the 'Secure Borders Plan', recently launched by the Government of Rodrigo Paz following a surge in violence in Santa Cruz. Among the most serious incidents are the shooting deaths of four civilians and an intelligence agent in the town of San Matías last August.
The Bolivian Government maintains that several of these crimes stem from the dispute between the PCC and the Comando Vermelho (CV) for control of drug trafficking routes on the Brazilian border, a conflict that has intensified violence in the Chiquitania and Bolivian Amazon regions.
In recent weeks, authorities also announced that Brazil's Federal Police will soon open a permanent office in Bolivia to strengthen cooperation against organised crime. The Government Minister, Marco Antonio Oviedo, also reported last week on the creation of two elite units in border areas with Brazil, with support from the United States, aimed at combating violence linked to drug trafficking.
Source: Google News BO — Crime