The National Police of Paraguay reported this Saturday (25) that it carried out several raids throughout this week in which it detained at least three people who were allegedly part of a scheme that trafficked more than 8,000 weapons to criminal groups in Brazil.
The head of the Department against Organized Crime of the National Police, Commissioner Luis López, told the “Telefuturo” channel that this Saturday they carried out two simultaneous raids on commercial establishments in the cities of San Antonio and Mariano Roque Alonso, located in the Central department, in which a man and a woman were detained.
“The people now detained were those in charge of creating shell companies,” said López, explaining that, according to investigations, these firms were used to send “more than 8,000 weapons abroad.”
The commissioner guaranteed that the firearms entered Paraguay “legally”, but were then sent irregularly to Brazil, and that at least “eight shell companies” were used to do so.
Likewise, he indicated that the detainees were responsible for recruiting people in different neighborhoods of the capital, Asunción, so that they could “appear as owners” of the companies.
The commissioner reported that on Tuesday they arrested one of the people who was allegedly “in charge of logistics” and receiving money from criminal organizations.
“For us, the procedures we have been carrying out since last Tuesday are high-value objectives because they had or have direct connections with criminal organizations in Brazil, where the different firearms were sent”, he added.
