Operation to deliver drug trafficker to Argentina was coordinated by the Ministry of Justice
Caught in Mato Grosso do Sul with false documents, Jorge Adalid Granier Ruiz, Argentina’s most wanted drug trafficker, was extradited in an operation carried out in absolute secrecy. As soon as he arrived, known as “Phantom” or “Ninth”, he left the State without “anyone” seeing.
The prisoner occupied one of the cells at the Gameleira Men’s Closed Regime State Penitentiary, known as “Supermáxima”, in Campo Grande, for 225 days, between March 30 and November 10 last year, as determined by the Campo Grande News.
The transfer was carried out so confidentially that even after the prisoner was handed over to the Argentine government, the STF (Supreme Federal Court) denied habeas corpus to Granier Ruiz. His lawyer in Brazil, Haroldson Loureiro Zatorre, claimed that his client was suffering illegal embarrassment because he had no convictions to serve behind bars in the country. For the defense, keeping him in prison was an “irrational measure, violating human dignity”.
The action coordinated by the Ministry of Justice, also according to the report, took place after the STF approved the extradition request for “Fantasma” and President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) authorized the delivery.
In Argentina, Ruiz faces accusations of commanding the transportation of cocaine by air. Owner of triple nationality, the man, who also became known as the “lord of the skies of Mercosur”, always denied the accusations against him, maintaining that he had no criminal record in any country. But for the Argentine Justice, there was enough evidence to make him a defendant in a case accusing him of maintaining a fleet of air taxis that had narcotics shipments as “passengers”, as reported by the newspaper La Nación, which confirmed the prisoner’s arrival at the Argentina in early November 2023.
“This criminal group was dedicated to transporting cocaine hydrochloride from Bolivia and Paraguay to Argentina and charged a commission of approximately US$300,000 for this ‘taxi service’”, stated federal prosecutors Diego Iglesias and Eduardo Villalba in an opinion in the legal action against Granier Ruiz.
“El Fantasma” is being prosecuted, with pre-trial detention ordered, for trafficking aggravated by the number of people involved. In a decision, given in December last year, the federal judge of Salta (Argentine city), Julio Bavio, in addition to ordering the legal action to continue, ordered the blocking of 30 million Argentine pesos in the defendant’s assets – an amount that if converted in reais it is equivalent to R$ 176,350.98.
The prison – Ruiz was considered a fugitive from Argentine justice in February 2022 and was arrested during a routine inspection by the PRF (Federal Highway Police), on March 28 of last year. Approached on BR-163, in Jaraguari, the man accused of being a “mega trafficker” was not armed or carrying drugs. He, however, introduced himself under a false name, Jorge Mendez Ardaya, a Bolivian who died in 2012. Police officers were suspicious of the documents and ended up discovering the fraud.
According to Granier, the identities and passport were purchased in Belém do Pará for almost 6 thousand dollars. He also told the police that the change in appearance helped him to move without being recognized. As he was obese, he underwent bariatric surgery and soon after underwent liposuction, procedures that made him much thinner, completely changing his appearance.
Wanted by the world – Bolivian by birth, but also Argentinean and Paraguayan nationality, Jorge Adalid Granier Ruiz has been wanted around the world since April 2022, when his name was included in Interpol’s red flag – the International Police’s tool for finding criminals for the purpose of extradition. them – and received the classification of “dangerous”.
The nickname “Phantom” came about due to discretion. Until recently, the man’s face was not known, because he never appeared, not even in photos.
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