Police arrest drug dealers who operated at Guarulhos airport

Brazil’s Federal Police on Thursday (Dec. 7) arrested nine drug traffickers who operated at São Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport. The agents are looking for another five who are still on the run.

The crackdown is dubbed Operation Bota Fora, and was aimed at serving 14 temporary arrest warrants and 18 search and seizure orders against these drug traffickers, as part of three probes into groups that were shipping cocaine to Europe and Africa via the Guarulhos terminal.

The narcotics were sent in irregularly checked suitcases or through the airport’s cargo sector. Nearly 700 kilos of cocaine were seized in Brazil and abroad, destined for Germany (578 kilos), Portugal (77 kilos), and Ethiopia (37 kilos). Some of the suspects are considered to be the leaders of the trafficking scheme in the Guarulhos region. They were identified in WhatsApp group chats created to organize the shipments.

“These crimes happen because of the poor organic security at the airport. It should have not just cameras, but a better system to monitor the people moving around. We’ve been informed that the colluding employees are recruited as soon as they’re hired. Some are already part of the ring when they seek a job there, recommended by someone already employed,” police commissioner Felipe Faé Lavareda de Souza noted.

In order to send the drugs abroad, he added, the perpetrators take the tag from a passenger’s suitcase and attach it to another piece of luggage, which contains the illicit substance.