Entrepreneur arrested in connection with largest cocaine seizure in Paraguay

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Prosecutor’s Office of Paraguay reported that Dubini, 54, was taken today for questioning after being arrested the day before during a raid on a house in Asunción.

Authorities added that his son, Juan José Dubini, 28, also allegedly involved in the seized cargo, is still at large.

During the raid on the house, the Prosecutor’s Office and the National Police seized cell phones, computer equipment, invoices and documents related to import shipments.

The Prosecutor’s Office said in its statement that “invoices for the purchase of bags, presumably the ones that were found” were also discovered, with a hole in their interior “that presumably would have been used at some point for the transfer of substances.”

A vehicle was also found at the site of the raid with a container “that would also have been used for the transfer,” also seized by the Prosecutor’s Office.

Dubini’s arrest occurred within the framework of an investigation into the seizure of over 3 tons of cocaine in a warehouse in the town of Fernando de la Mora, near Asunción, rented by the Dubini family.

The drugs were distributed in over 160 bags apparently containing sugar.

Authorities estimate the load to be worth US$35 million, although it would double on the international market.

Eduardo Royg. prosecutor of the Specialized Unit for the Fight against Drug Trafficking said Wednesday when exhibiting the drugs in Asunción that the investigation was still open.

The first inquiries suggest that the drugs entered Paraguay by air and it is not ruled out that they came from Peru or Bolivia, although no official confirmation has yet been made.

This is the largest cocaine seizure in the country, after some 2,300 kilos were confiscated last October at a private port terminal in the town of Villeta, on the capital’s outskirts.

At the time, the drugs were hidden in several bags inside a container, as part of a shipment of charcoal deposited in other containers.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office investigation, the cargo was bound for Israel, after passing through Buenos Aires and Antwerp (Belgium).

Paraguay has become a route for the transformation of Bolivian coca leaf into cocaine for sale in Brazil, Argentina and other countries, with the establishment of clandestine laboratories on its territory, according to authorities.