This Wednesday (16), the Federal Police launched an operation to combat smuggling and illegal cigarette trade, criminal association and money laundering. the Federal Highway Police (PRF) and the Federal Revenue Service in Espírito Santo participated in the action.
During the searches, agents seized a suitcase with R$5 million in cash inside a suitcase that was in the home of an investigator.
The 90 federal police officers, 10 federal highway police officers and 12 tax auditors and tax analysts carry out 21 search and seizure warrants and four arrest warrants in the states of Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais and São Paulo.
According to the PF, the objective of the legal measures is to hold criminally responsible and dismantle the members of an illegal national distribution network of smuggled or counterfeit cigarettes, operating in several states of the Federation.
The decapitalization of the members of the criminal group was also judicially ordered, with the seizure and kidnapping of assets.
The teams are working in homes, warehouses, warehouses and offices linked to those responsible for the illegal import, manufacture, distribution and sale of cigarettes of foreign origin.
The prisoners would operate in the large-scale trade and distribution of smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes nationwide, generating high financial turnover and exorbitant profitability.
Investigations indicate that the group investigated was connected to the assembly and operation of the clandestine cigarette factory discovered by the Federal Police, in August 2023, in the city of Serra (ES), when machinery from the cigarette production line was seized. , various inputs, such as tobacco, filter, glue, box, label, plastics for packaging, in addition to more than 4,000 boxes of cigarettes already packaged for sale and vehicles used to transport the goods.
In the operation, to date, four preventive arrests and two in the act have been carried out, in addition to 21 searches. Reais, dollars and euros, more than 65 boxes of Paraguayan-made cigarettes valued at more than R$200,000, five firearms, four luxury vehicles valued at more than R$500,000, in addition to deposit checks issued by buyers of cigarettes were seized.
Those investigated will be responsible for the crimes of criminal association, cigarette smuggling, money laundering and illegal possession of a firearm, the combined penalties of which can reach 22 years in prison.
This content was originally published in PF seizes R$5 million in suitcase during cigarette smuggling operation on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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