An international police operation that included the participation of the Judiciary Police managed to dismantle a criminal organization that was sending “large quantities of cocaine” from Brazil to Europe on fishing vessels, the PJ indicated this Wednesday, December 17th.
“With the actions launched jointly in the three phases of the operation in Europe and Brazil, everything leads us to believe that the entire organization was dismantled, from the organizers in Brazil to the maritime transport logistics and the recipients operating in Europe”, says the investigating police in a statement.
As part of the “Silbo” operation, eight suspects were arrested in Brazil, three of whom lived in Portugal and were being monitored by the PJ, and “various assets, valuables, vehicles and documentation were seized”, with 22 search warrants being executed in Brazilian territory and four in national territory.
Another 37 suspected members of the group, with the function of receiving the drug in Europe, were arrested in Spain in September, among them being “a man who would be responsible for the organization’s logistics”.
According to the PJ, the origin of the investigation is “the identification, interception and seizure, at the end of 2024, in international waters off Cape Verde, of a fishing vessel that departed from the south of Bahia, transporting approximately 1,600 kg of cocaine, in which the Judiciary Police and the Portuguese Navy actively participated and whose result was then publicly communicated within the scope of the then-named ‘Trade Winds’ operation”.
In addition to the PJ’s National Unit to Combat Drug Trafficking, the Federal Police of Brazil and the Guardia Civil of Spain participated in the “Silbo” operation, which were supported by the European Union’s police cooperation agency, Europol, and by police authorities from other European countries.
According to the statement, “investigations continue, in an investigation carried out by DIAP (Department of Investigation and Criminal Action) in Lisbon”.