PF carries out operation against group that smuggled cigarettes from Paraguay in Rio Grande do Sul

The Federal Police launched Operation Fumus Prohibitus this Tuesday (26), aiming to dismantle a group linked to a criminal faction, involved in the smuggling and irregular trade of cigarettes of Paraguayan origin.

Around 52 federal police officers, with the support of the Federal Revenue Service, are carrying out 13 search and seizure warrants in the municipalities of Soledade (10), Barros Cassal (02) and Passo Fundo (01).

The investigations began after the arrest, carried out by military police in Soledade, in April 2021, of a couple who were transporting a vehicle loaded with approximately four thousand packs of cigarettes of foreign origin.

The Federal Police, when advancing the investigations, found that the man arrested in the act had the authorization and protection of a criminal faction to control the distribution of smuggled merchandise in Soledade, being the exclusive “representative” of the faction in the illegal cigarette trade in Soledade. region.

Furthermore, the group intimidated and threatened competitors by shooting firearms, sending threatening videos and carrying out armed “inspection” in cigarette retail establishments, aiming to guarantee exclusivity in the distribution of smuggled products in the municipality.

The investigation identified several commercial establishments that purchased the illicit product exclusively from the criminal faction, which are targets of the legal measures carried out this Tuesday.

The crimes investigated in the operation include smuggling and illegal trade in contraband products, criminal organization and money laundering.