Brazil's Federal Police carried out an operation against a major drug trafficking gang that used cryptocurrency to launder money obtained from exporting drugs to Europe.
On Thursday, Brazil's Federal Police announced the results of Operation "Commodity," which dismantled a gang that used the port of Rio de Janeiro to smuggle cocaine hidden in shipments of coffee, cement, and mortar, primarily sent to Europe using a logistics network spanning South America, Europe, and Asia.
The investigation indicates that since 2021, the gang has smuggled more than 6.5 tons of cocaine to various European countries, including France, Belgium, Germany, Slovenia, and Spain.
During the operation, which involved actions in São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Santa Catarina, and Espírito Santo, 13 preventive arrests were made and 44 searches were conducted with property seizures; courts issued orders for asset seizures and property freezes totaling up to 1 billion reals (nearly 196 million dollars). In one of these locations, a shootout erupted, during which a suspect died from gunshot wounds while resisting.
This gang had connections with "Primeiro Comando da Capital" (PCC) and "Comando Vermelho" (CV) — two criminal organizations that the Trump administration designated as "Specially Designated Global Terrorists" (SDGT) and which were previously the target of Operation "Exchange," which dismantled a $2 billion cryptocurrency money laundering network earlier this month.
Police reported that a luxury car dealership located in the São Paulo metropolitan area, offering brands such as Ferrari, Porsche, Corvette, and Land Rover, was part of the operation, where drug trafficking proceeds were laundered using cryptocurrency through shell companies.
Using these shell companies, the organizers issued invoices without supporting documents, injecting these funds into the Brazilian financial system and using cryptocurrency to conceal and obfuscate their transactions.
"The suspects will be held accountable for their role in crimes related to the operation of a transnational criminal organization, international drug trafficking, and money laundering, without prejudice to any other offenses that may be identified during the investigations," concluded the Federal Police.
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