Group is accused of transporting 126 pounds of cocaine from Brazil to Europe illegally, in a scheme that had existed since 2022 and was discovered in 2023
On the morning of Tuesday, 22, arrested one of the gang leaders who exchanged passenger baggage labels to send cocaine abroad. He had been on the run for over two years. The group is accused of transporting 126 pounds of cocaine from Brazil to Europe illegally, in a scheme that had existed since 2022 and was discovered in 2023, after a couple of Brazilian women were unjustly arrested in Germany. Even innocent, they were detained for 38 days. According to the investigations, the criminal operation operated with false check-in by a Gol employee, and an action in restricted area by workers from outsourced companies.
Images released by TV Globo’s Fantástico in July 2023 showed a man with a suitcase (with 43 pounds of cocaine) meeting with Tamiris Zacharias, 31, at the time of Gol Linhas Aéreas. The two go to one of the company’s check-in windows. Tamiris, who is also part of the gang, pretends to do the necessary procedures, puts the suitcase on the treadmill and dispatches the luggage with the drugs. The suitcase continued to travel to Lisbon, where it was seized. The Portuguese authorities located the drug, but no one appeared to seek the cargo.
The investigation identified that the woman did not issue any proof to the luggage owner. Tamiris was also seen by images in contact with another woman, Carolina Pennachiotti, 35. Carolina also worked at the airport and was hired by a company to guide passengers in the queues. In audios recorded for the mother, intercepted by the police, she makes statements that she is also involved in the scheme.
The second phase of the crime, as pointed out by the investigations, involved the restricted area of the airport, specifically where the bags go after check-in. In this space, the images caught employees performing the removal of luggage labels from other passengers and placing, in a hidden way, in the luggage with the drugs. The action of criminals is subtly done in order to circumvent security. For this stage of the operation, the gang had the help of employees Deivid Souza Lima and Pedro Venâncio. The two were caught performing the exchange of labels in March 2023, a few days before the same blow was applied to the two Brazilian women.
At the time, Carolina’s defense said the arrest was “violation of legal norms” and would demonstrate the dismissal of the accusations. WFS Orbital, an outsourced company that hired Carolina, said it collaborated with the investigations and offered training to its employees. Tamiris, from Gol, was fired from the company and confessed to participation in the scheme. Gol reported that it was available to the authorities since he learned of the investigations. Deivid and Pedro Venâncio’s lawyers preferred not to speak up.
Arrested and convicted
In August last year, part of the gang was sentenced by the court. Among them, some chefs of the drug trafficking scheme, such as ‘Grandpa’, ‘Brutus’, ‘Charles’, ‘Man’, ‘Bahia’ and Carolina, who hold high positions in the gang hierarchy, according to investigations. According to the PF, they were responsible for trafficking logistics, others are pointed out as ‘intellectual mentors of crime’ and there are even those who are classified, by the gang itself, as ‘boss of the scheme’.
Throughout the investigations, the PF has discovered details in the group’s action methods. One is the use of the ‘football’ password to deal with drug remittance abroad. The findings occurred from the analysis of dialogues among the investigated, found in cell phones seized in the operations.
See the condemned and the penalties:
Gleison Rodrigues dos Santos, Grandpa, took 39 years, 8 months and 10 days in closed initial regime;
Fernando Reis de Araújo, Brutus, was sentenced to 26 years, 3 months and 23 days in the closed initial regime;
Matheus Luiz Melo da Silva, the Man, received a sentence of 8 years and 2 months in semi -open regime;
Eubert Costa Ferreira Nunes, Bahia, was sentenced to 8 years and 2 months in semi -open regime;
Charles Couto Santos was sentenced to 7 years in semi -open regime;
Carolina Helena Pennacchiotti was sentenced to 16 years and 4 months in closed initial regime.
The report tries to contact the defense of the aforementioned.
Brazilian arrested in Germany
Brazilian Kátyna Baía and Jeanne Paolini stayed 38 days in Frankfurt after having the bags of baggage exchanged for drugs with drugs. The Goianas were released after the German prosecutor, in possession of the Federal Police (PF) inquiry and videos that proved that the labels were exchanged at Cumbica airport, authorized the couple’s release. At the time, a PF operation arrested seven suspects of participating in the scheme.
As reported by the victims’ family, they were detained at the airport separately, handcuffed by the feet and hands, escorted by several police officers, and the only word they understood was cocaine they both tried to argue that they were not their bags, as they had different colors and weights, but the police only repeated the word “cocaine”.
They had their hands shaved for DNA collection, without being allowed to do so. The hand luggage was retained and they were without the medicines and warm clothing. Both were taken to separate cells. In this place, which was cold and had the walls written with stool, they spent three days, in which they were offered only bread and water. Then they were transferred to the Women’s Prison of Frankfurt, where they remained separated and living with women convicted of various crimes in cold and uncomfortable cells.
*With information from Estadão Content
Posted by Fernando Dias
