Paraguay: The New Safe Haven for Brazilian Traffickers, Money Launderers
/25 FEB 2022 BY JUAN DIEGO CÁRDENAS
An accused Brazilian trafficker who set himself up as an armored car dealer in Paraguay is the latest example of a Brazil underworld figure making a home in Paraguay, which is emerging as a vital crossroads for the cocaine trade.
The arrest of Marcus Vinicius Espíndola Marques de Padua on charges of drug trafficking has generated shockwaves in Paraguay, where Interior Minister Arnaldo Giuzzio was removed from his post on February 22 after he was found to have used one of Espindola's vehicles, La Nación reported.
Espíndola has been linked to at least six Paraguay-based companies, including a business in the border city of Ciudad del Este that imported high-end vehicles and then outfitted them with bulletproof armor, Última Hora reported.
Espíndola's arrest came as part of a massive operation that dismantled a transatlantic cocaine smuggling ring, in which drugs were moved from Paraguay to Brazil and then dispatched to European ports concealed in shipping containers. Also targeted in the February 15 sting, called "Operation Turf," was Lindomar Reges Furtado, another Brazilian national who resides in Paraguay. Furtado – wanted on drug trafficking charges – is on the run after escaping authorities when they came to arrest him at Paraná Country Club on the outskirts of Ciudad del Este.
More:
https://insightcrime.org/news/paraguay-the-new-safe-haven-for-brazilian-traffickers-money-launderers/