Paraguay expels six members of major Brazilian criminal group

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Authorities in Paraguay on Wednesday, March 24th, expelled six Brazilian members of the First Capital Command (PCC) criminal group arrested last night in the city of Pedro Juan Caballero, including the man identified as the organization’s leader on the border.

Weslley Neres Dos Santos, alias “Bebé,” who posed as a university student, was handed over along with the other Brazilians to authorities across the border from Pedro Juan Caballero, capital of the Amambay department.

The expellees were arrested last night along with eight Paraguayans in a property identified as “Lavadero Lava Car” when they were in “assembly, planning a robbery in Brazilian territory”, according to the National Anti-Drug Secretariat (Senad).

In this joint operation between Paraguay and Brazil, known as Secure Border II,  vehicles, assault rifles, magazines, bulletproof vests and projectiles of various calibers were seized.

Paraguayan authorities also said that some of the detainees had previous convictions for contract killings, bank robberies or drug trafficking.

The PCC, Brazil’s largest criminal group, has a presence in Paraguay, especially in the border area and in the country’s prisons, where they recruit “soldiers” from among Paraguayan prisoners. Early last year, a total of 76 prisoners, mostly from the PCC or related to that group, escaped from Pedro Juan Caballero prison through a tunnel dug over the course of a week.

A month later, the Attorney General’s Office presented an expert report showing that prison guards allowed the escape.

Source: EFE