On Thursday 19, the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service (RFB) and the Federal Police (PF) launched a major operation against an organisation accused of smuggling and illegally selling electronics from Paraguay. The courts issued 70 preventive arrest warrants and 94 search and seizure warrants against the suspects.
Operation Grade A involved more than 60 RFB auditors and 350 federal police officers. The warrants are being carried out at commercial and residential addresses in the states of Paraná, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Paraíba, Piauí and Rio Grande do Sul. On the border, Foz do Iguaçu was also included in the action
The investigation began with the arrest in the act of three members of the group who acted as couriers. They were transporting large quantities of foreign goods hidden in the false bottoms of vehicles, travelling in convoys to make inspection difficult, reported the Federal Revenue Service.
It is estimated that the defendants illegally brought BRL 250 million in goods into the country in the last three years alone. The amount is equivalent to a loss of more than BRL 90 million to the public coffers, in the form of import taxes that were no longer collected, the federal public service said.
Paulo Bini, the Federal Revenue Customs delegate in Foz do Iguaçu, explained that there will be further developments in the operation, due to the arrests and warrants served, and exemplified the damage to the community. "It would be enough to build 1,250 low-income houses, worth BRL 75,000 each, just with what was evaded in this smuggling offence," he said.
Operation "Grade A"
The Federal Revenue Service detailed how the illegal activity of the suspect group worked:
It began with direct negotiations between the seller in a shop located in Paraguay and the buyer in Brazil;
After the deal was finalised, the foreign goods entered the country illegally, transported to the buyers by drivers and truckers;The goods and freight were paid into bank accounts designated by the Paraguayan shop;
Finally, upon confirmation of receipt, the goods were delivered to the buyer.