December 23, 2024, 9:36 PM
December 23, 2024, 9:36 PM
Paraguayan authorities detained four people and seized a shipment of at least 20 tons of marijuana, after a shootout with an armed group in the department of Canindeyú (northeast), bordering Brazil, reported the spokesman for the Joint Task Force (FTC). , Colonel Luis Apesteguía.
The FTC, made up of elements of the National Police, the Armed Forces and the National Anti-Drug Secretariat (Senad), was deployed by land and air in the district of Curuguaty, about 250 kilometers from Asunción, after receiving intelligence information about a “significant load” of marijuana that was supposedly going to be exported by “armed people.”
In statements to Radio Monumental, Apesteguía highlighted that at the site they found between 20,000 and 25,000 kilograms of marijuana that allegedly belonged to Felipe Acosta Riveros, alias ‘Macho’, who Paraguayan authorities relate to the drug trafficking business.
During the operation, which had the support of the Internal Defense Operations Command (Codi), there was a confrontation with shots between the security forces and the armed group, in which one of the alleged criminals was injured, Apesteguía said.
The colonel pointed out that the man, one of the detainees, was transferred to a health center in the city of Saltos del Guairá and that, according to medical reports, he is “out of danger.”
Three other people were also arrested during the operation in which long weapons, pistols, camouflage clothing and tactical vests for military use were seized as evidence.
Alias ’Macho’ is a fugitive from justice and also one of the most wanted men in Paraguay by the Department against Organized Crime of the National Police.
