Operation: PCPR executes 57 warrants against trafficking gang based in London
21 preventive arrest warrants, 5 temporary arrest warrants, 14 search and seizure warrants, 16 bank account blocking warrants and 1 vehicle seizure warrant were issued.
The Civil Police of Paraná (PCPR) detonated on the morning of Thursday (15), a major operation against a criminal organization linked to the drug trade, association for the trafficking and money laundering in the Northwest of the State. In total, 57 court orders are being executed with the support of the Civil Police of São Paulo.
Around 100 civilian police officers participate in the action in the cities of Maringá, Sarandi, Pontal do Paraná – beach resort of Praia de Este – and Franco da Rocha (SP). The crew is supported by a PCPR helicopter and light dogs.
Twenty-one warrants were issued for pretrial detention, five for temporary detention, 14 for search and seizure, 16 for blocking bank accounts and one for hijacking a vehicle. According to PCPR, the goal is to dismantle the entire traffic chain: supply, storage, distribution and financing.
One-Year Investigation and Delivery Traffic
The investigations lasted about a year and were conducted in conjunction with the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The work began after the arrest of people who were distributing drugs in Sarandi.
From the analysis of the seized material, the Civil Police identified a much larger structure, responsible for supplying Sarandi and Maringá, including a delivery system for narcotics in the delivery mode.
According to delegate Leandro Munin, the leaders did not live in the region and used the internet to control the scheme.
“One of the main suppliers investigated, named as the organization’s leadership, currently resides in London, England, from where he remotely coordinated the supply of drugs,” the delegate explained.
Another important supplier was identified living in Praia de Leste, on the coast of Paraná.
Division of tasks and money laundering
The organization was divided into nuclei: leaders, wholesale suppliers, responsible for storing and fractionating the drug, distributors, deliverers and financial operators. The investigation also pointed to people lending bank accounts to move trafficked money and conceal the illicit origin of the securities.
The PCPR also found the gang’s connection to a criminal organization of national action. One of the investigators who originated the case is the nephew of a man named as the leader of this faction in Paraná, which is currently in Paraguay.
Account blocking and asset seizure measures are part of the strategy of decapitalization of gangs. In recent years, PCPR has set up five Anti-Money Laundering Technology Labs, linked to the Department of Police Intelligence, precisely to cut the resources that underpin organized crime.
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