Drug traffickers set light to aircraft and flee in Brazil; abandon 500 kg of Bolivian cocaine
Brazil's Federal Police seized half a tonne of cocaine at a clandestine airstrip in Mato Grosso. Traffickers burned the aircraft and escaped towards a forested area.
Operation in Mato Grosso: 500 kilograms of cocaine and an aircraft set ablaze
Brazil's Federal Police, together with the Special Border Group (Gefron) and the Eighth Regional Command of the Military Police, seized approximately 500 kilograms of cocaine hydrochloride at a clandestine airstrip located in the Guariba region, municipality of Colniza, in the north-west of Mato Grosso state. According to El Deber, the traffickers set fire to the aircraft used to transport the drug and fled without being captured.
The operation was triggered following an exchange of intelligence information that alerted authorities to the use of the airstrip to receive aircraft from Bolivia, allegedly carrying narcotics.
During preliminary monitoring, agents observed three people and two vans at the location. An aircraft landed and its occupants began unloading several packages. On noticing the police presence, the suspects set fire to the aircraft and disappeared into a forested area. None was detained during the intervention.
At the site, two vans and 12 bundles of the drug were recovered. All material was transported to the Federal Police headquarters in Cuiabá for the corresponding legal proceedings. The official report estimates the value of the seized substance at 12.5 million reals.
The investigations made it possible to preliminarily identify two alleged pilots of the aircraft, both of Bolivian nationality: Moisés Alejandro R. A. and Róger Sebastián T. S. Brazilian authorities activated international arrest warrants against them.
One of the two suspects is reportedly linked to the murder of a lieutenant of Bolivia's anti-drug police, which occurred on 10 November 2023 in Santa Cruz.
Source: El Deber