The Judicial Police (PJ) announced on Tuesday the arrest of three more suspects as part of an investigation that led to the seizure in November of 351 kilograms of cocaine imported from Latin America hidden in boxes of bananas.
In a statement, the SP, through the Leiria Criminal Investigation Department, said it detained three men, aged 30, 45 and 48, during a police operation on Monday, during which they seized several pieces of evidence, including 235 thousand euros. bills.
“This operation follows another in November last year, which then led to the arrest of two men and the confiscation of 351 kilograms of cocaine that was hidden in the import of bananas,” the joint venture said in a statement.
According to the SP, the men currently detained “were at the time responsible for identifying the pallets, removing them from the warehouse and handing them over to two operatives, who were then detained and remain in preventive detention.”
During Monday’s operation, the SP carried out eight searches in the Lisbon region, four of which were carried out in houses, “and two cryptocurrency wallets, two luxury watches, a 6.35 mm pistol, 102 cartridges of the same caliber were also seized.” , a modern car, as well as communications and IT equipment.”
The defendants face charges of aggravated drug trafficking and criminal association and attended their first arraignment at the Leiria Criminal Court, with no other enforcement action known at this time.
PJ’s source said the accused are Portuguese and have no criminal record.
In November, the SP announced that it had arrested two men in flagrante delicto and seized 351 kilograms of cocaine that had been imported from Latin America and hidden in boxes of bananas, as part of an investigation carried out by the Department of Investigation and Criminal Affairs of Leiria.
An operation to combat international cocaine trafficking led to the arrest of two men aged 45 with dual citizenship: Portuguese and a country in Central Europe, the joint venture emphasized in a statement.
After several search warrants were issued for warehouses and vehicles, heavy and light, outside the country, 351 kilograms of cocaine was seized, which was “imported from South America and hidden in boxes of bananas.”
“Once recovered in a wooden cargo, it will travel to Central/Northern Europe,” police said.
The PS then also confiscated three vehicles: a high-end passenger car, a passenger car and a truck, as well as various technological equipment, cell phones, communication bus systems and GPS locators.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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