Convicted Businessman Tried to Ship 760 kg of Cocaine Hidden in Cornmeal Cargo

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Thursday, October 24th, Federal Judge Roberto Lemos dos Santos Filho, of the 5th Federal Court of Santos, sentenced businessman Bruno Lamego Alves to five years and ten months’ imprisonment for drug trafficking, involving 760 kilograms of cocaine seized amid a cornmeal shipment on February 15th, 2017 in the Port of Santos. The drug was packed in two containers awaiting loading onto the vessel Capitão San Maleas, bound for the port of Antwerp, Belgium.

Lamego was arrested on May 28th, during a search and seizure operation at his residence in Santos. The man is the owner of an import and logistics consulting company on the São Paulo coast.

The businessman has also been sentenced to pay the amount of 875 daily fines and will not be able to appeal in freedom – “to prevent the practice of other crimes, in other words, to ensure public order, and to ensure the enforcement of the law”.

Judge Lemos’ sentence notes that, in 2017, treasury officials found the 760 kg of cocaine in 27 sports bags. The bags were stacked the same way as the 50kg bags of cornmeal in the cargo hold.

The investigation showed that the food had been purchased from a company in Paraná. The exporter was paid in national currency, through small deposits of R$7,000 and R$ 8,000, which together totaled R$88,000, which aroused suspicion.

According to Judge Lemos, the examination of the materials seized during the search conducted in the businessman’s apartment showed connections between Lamego and the purchase of cornmeal. A SIM card was found, which corresponded to the number used in the negotiations for the purchase of the foodstuff.

The authorities also found evidence of the entrepreneur’s involvement in hiring the spraying of containers that would be sent to Belgium. The IP addresses of the computers from where the negotiation messages originated were registered in Lamego’s name.

In interrogation, the businessman denied the charges and said that he was hired as an intermediary to enable the export of 50 tons of cornmeal. According to Lamego, the operation would be a kind of test, which would be conditioned to a 12-month contract, referring to the shipment of 600 tons of the foodstuff. According to Roberto Lemos, the businessman said that if the shipment were successful, “it would lead to the commercial success of his company”.

The judge pointed out, however, that all operations carried out during the export process would have been documented, except for Lamego’s contract as an intermediary. Invoices and receipts for the purchase, transportation, and spraying of the goods were submitted – “only the service that Bruno claims to have provided is not evidenced in the case file”.

“By examining the oral evidence collected under the scrutiny of cross-examination, I consider certain and unequivocal the actual involvement of Bruno Lamego Alves in specific, pertinent, necessary and sufficient acts to the safekeeping and transportation of the large quantity of cocaine seized,” said Roberto Lemos.

The judge also pointed out that Lamego’s conduct warranted ‘greater reproach’, as he considered that the businessman committed the acts ‘with the purpose of obtaining easy profit’.

Source: Estadão Conteúdo