MONTEIDEO, Dec 8 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — A network that transported cocaine by air from Argentina to Uruguay was dismantled in a joint operation by the two countries’ prosecutors’ offices, it was announced here.
Argentine pilots brought the drugs on flights with over 400 kilos of cargo, reported El Pais newspaper.
The drugs came from Peru and were then transported in trucks to Montevideo, with the purpose of sending them to Europe.
The police operation, called ‘Arriero Minerva,’ resulted in the indictment of nine people, including one who was caught with a record amount of cocaine raisins in northern Uruguay.
The raids were mainly carried out along the coast, near Fray Bentos, on the east bank of the Uruguay river and in front of the Argentine province of Entre Rios.
Other incursions took place further north, in the department of Artigas.
The Uruguayan Public Prosecutor’s Office determined the use of at least four aircrafts, but estimates that the criminal organization had other aircrafts at its disposal to carry out the clandestine flights.
According to the magazine Caras y Caretas, Uruguay is part of the so-called “southern route” of drug trafficking.
For several years, it has been used as a departure route for cocaine produced in the region, destined for West Africa and Europe.
The saturation of other ports further north of the Atlantic, generate this phenomenon which is called the ‘southern effect’, as it implies a shift of logistics to countries such as Uruguay’, the website of the publication publishes Thursday.
