Maxi operation by Interpol, over 14,000 arrests in Latin America
Dos Mil antimafia April 26, 2023
More than 200 tons of cocaine and 8,200 firearms seized
It was a major transnational coup led by Interpol against organized crime in Latin America. On Tuesday, the offices of the international police announced the first results of the "Trigger IX" operation, which so far has produced 14,260 arrests, the seizure of 8,263 firearms, 305,000 rounds of ammunition and the impressive figure of 203 tons of cocaine and 372 tons of precursor chemicals. Approximately 200 Interpol personnel participated in the operation, coordinated with local forces from 15 countries including Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Operation "Gatillo" (translated from English) focused above all on the dismantling of illegal arms supply networks: one of the major components of transnational organized crime, which usually remains outside the political agendas and the attention of the public debate in villages. The prosecution of illegal arms trafficking networks has also led to the identification of other complex crimes related to drug trafficking, corruption, fraud, human trafficking, environmental crimes and even activities related to terrorist groups. The raids and arrests were concentrated between mid-March and early April, but investigations and intelligence activities began much earlier. This 9th edition of Trigger is part of Project Disrupt, which began in March 2021,
One of the geographical points on which the greatest attention has been paid is the triple border shared by Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, where the presence of various criminal groups has been identified, including the Primer Comando Capitale de Brasil, the Mara Salvatrucha of El Salvador and the Eastern European Balkan cartel, where there is a marked incidence of Italian mafias, in particular the Sacra Corona Unita, sponsored by Cosa Nostra and the 'Ndrangheta.
Interpol highlighted the operations carried out in Uruguay, which led to the seizure of about 100,000 ammunition. We recall that in recent weeks three important operations have been carried out in the eastern territory. One under the label of Operation Virtus, in which almost 500 kilograms of cocaine were seized, with Croatian citizens among those arrested.
Another called with the code name Laser II, in which a series of raids were carried out in various cities on the Atlantic coast and 50 weapons of different calibers and almost 10,000 cartridges were seized. Finally, the episodes that took place in the port of Montevideo, as part of the Hamburg operation, where an arsenal of weapons with around 100,000 ammunition from Europe was seized. In the latter operation, one Swiss and one German citizen were arrested.
Up to now, no information has been released regarding the network of money inherent in these types of complex crimes.