Agriculture

More cocaine found in Brazilian chicken containers

Cocaine has been found in two containers of chicken packed for export in Brazil – one destined for South Africa, the other for the Netherlands.

The Daily Maverick, which has reported extensively on efforts by Brazil and South Africa to stop cocaine smuggling in Brazil’s chicken exports, said the two containers had been intercepted at the Brazilian port of Paranagua. Police had found 86kg of cocaine hidden in the refrigeration engine sections of the containers, which could be accessed externally.

The publication noted that the traffickers often used chicken consignments for their drug smuggling.

Daily Maverick has reported on previous shipments of cocaine, due to be trafficked to and through South Africa, being discovered in the port city where drug traffickers are involved in deadly turf wars.

It said evidence indicated that traffickers favour Durban as the South African destination through which to channel their drugs. In Brazil, the ports of Santos and Paranaguá are among those preferred. This was the seventh cocaine interception at Paranaguá this year.

The publication also reports that an international crackdown on drug cartels, carried out over three years and involving police forces in several countries, including Brazil, was wrapped up last week. A total of 40 arrests were made.

Europol, the European Union’s law enforcement agency, announced last week that the operation had targeted “a criminal network, which was orchestrating multi-tonne cocaine trafficking from Colombia, Brazil and Ecuador to the EU”.