Drug warehouse and production plant of Brazilian PCC crime gang dismantled in Paraguay

Paraguayan special anti-drug forces succeeded on Tuesday in dismantling a drug complex of Brazil’s “First Command of the Capital” (PCC) criminal group in the rural colony of “Ñandejára Puente” (Bridge of God) in the department of Amambay, on the border with Paraguay.

The National Secretariat to Combat Drugs (Senad) report indicates that after raiding a rural property, they could excavate six interconnected large-scale drug processing warehouses.

In addition, they destroyed two hectares of marijuana plantations, equivalent to at least six tons of the illegal substance.

The complex was tracked down through a preliminary investigation coordinated by personnel of the Paraguayan Public Prosecutor’s Office and carried out by anti-drug agents from the regional office of Pedro Juan Caballero, the department’s capital, who discovered the cannabis plantations in the undergrowth after an intensive inspection.

According to the investigation of the Paraguayan authorities, the production and processing cycle of the drug cargoes at the site was controlled by the criminal group originating in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to be subsequently shipped and marketed in the Brazilian market.

PCC

PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital) is, according to a 2012 Brazilian Government report, the largest Brazilian criminal organization, with a membership of almost 20,000 members, 6,000 of whom are in prison.

The criminal organization is mainly based in the state of São Paulo. It is active in at least 22 of the country’s 27 states and Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Paraguay, Bolivia, and United States.

Since its inception, PCC has been responsible for several criminal activities such as murders, prison breaks, riots, drug trafficking, bank robberies, highway robberies, protection rackets, pimping, kidnappings-for-ransom, money laundering, bribery, coercion, narco-terrorism, and obstruction of justice.

The name refers to the state capital, the city of São Paulo.