PF fights money laundering from international drug trade

The police report the launch of Operation Lavaggio IV (7th phase of Operation Overload), which aims to gather evidence regarding money laundering by suspects involved in an organized crime group involved in international drug trafficking from Viracopos Airport.

The investigation was initiated based on the analysis of police intelligence documents and information obtained during Operations Overload (held on October 6, 2020), AKE, Lavaggio I, II and III and aims to identify assets acquired with the proceeds of the criminal organization as well as others authorized to use their names to conceal those assets. At this stage of the investigation''focuses on the financial operations of one of the main suspects involved in using the logistics of Viracopos and Guarulhos airports to send large shipments of drugs to Europe. This prime suspect is already in prison due to two sentences of 20 years in prison (Operation AKE) and 112 years in prison (Operation Lavaggio III).

According to the data collected during the investigation, the acts of concealment and cashing of funds were carried out using various mechanisms:

• Receipt of cash
• Receipt of amounts through intermediary individuals and legal entities
• deposits of cash in third party accounts
• Payments or transfers from legal persons to suppliers located in the''away from the place of business without economic and financial justification
• carrying out transactions which, by their systematic nature, volume and form, constitute the art of circumventing the identification of source, destination, responsible persons or final recipients
• receipt of deposits from various sources without economic and financial justification, especially from regions remote from the place of activity of the legal entity or from the place of residence of the natural person
• making deposits, cash withdrawals, requests for cash advances or any other cash transfer instruments that constitute an anomaly in relation to the customer's economic activity or incompatibility with his'. 'economic financial capacity
• the movement of funds inconsistent with the state, economic activity or occupation and financial capacity

The investigation analyzed the actions of 16 people, 11 individuals and 5 legal entities, who moved more than R$100 million. The actual searches should allow for a detailed investigation and clarification of which part of the transactions are legal and which are illegal. In today's 7th phase of the operation, 13 searches approved by the First Federal Criminal Court of Campinas were carried out. Of these 13 searches, 10 are taking place in the states of Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, as well as 3 searches in Maia, Portugal. All of them are being conducted within the framework of''international legal cooperation. Regarding the three searches conducted in Maia, Portugal, they have been approved by the First Federal Criminal Court of Campinas and have been initiated in the Court of Maia against a Brazilian family residing in that territory and the legal entity they control.

The information gathered so far indicates a close relationship between the family of the man accused of the main crimes and the main suspect, who moved millions of reais at his request. In addition to the searches and arrests,''The Federal Court also authorized the blocking of property and funds held in their names. This operation was the sixth development of Operation Overload and is the result of police work to deplete criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking. The first development of the operation took place on December 3, 2020 (Operation AKE), the second on February 10, 2021 (Operation Lavaggio), the third on July 6, 2021 (Operation Airline), the fourth on October 25, 2021 (Operation Lavaggio II), and the fifth on December 1, 2021 (Operation Lavaggio III).

The operation involves 50 federal police officers, 16 São Paulo State Police officers and six Brazilian Federal Tax Service officers. As part of Operation Overload, a temporary 32' were detained during the operation as a result of a search. 'man for 30 days, and cars and money worth about R$3 million were seized. At the end of the 30-day temporary detention period, the police's request for an extension was not granted by the court and the detainees were released. The police then began a systematic examination of the seized documents and devices and a systematic submission to arrest all those involved.