Operation "Hinterland" destroyed the cocaine organization, the Albanian "capoband" of the group in Europe is revealed

In March of this year, Europol's "Hinterland" operation hit an international cocaine organization stretching from Brazil to Dubai. The proceedings of this international mega-operation were focused on Asunción, Paraguay; Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paraná, Amazonas and Rondônia, from Brazil, also in Dubai, from the United Arab Emirates.

During the period of the investigation, the drug trafficking organization composed of Alvarenga carried out transactions of more than 700 million dollars.

Operation Hinterland established Rodrigo Alvarenga Paredes as one of the leaders of the drug organization in Paraguay.

In two years of investigations, it was proven that the criminal organization moved 17 tons of drugs destined for Europe, of which 12 tons were seized.

The Brazilian media "O Globo" reveals today the name of an Albanian involved in this organization.

"By accessing the Sky ECC messages, investigators found the main buyer of the drug organization in Europe: Albanian Armando Pacani, 39, linked to a clan in the Balkans, according to the PF (Federal Police). He is mentioned as the owner of the cargo sent through West Africa. Immigration records show Pacani entered Brazil in January 2019 and left in August 2020, on an Emirates flight from São Paulo to Dubai.

Pacani is on the run. Europol suspects he is in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. In a statement, his lawyer, Eduardo Maurício, declared his client innocent and claimed that Operation Hinterland, the arrest warrant and his inclusion on Interpol's wanted list are based on illegal evidence stemming from the Sky phone messages ECC. According to Maurício, "the Sky ECC company claims that the authorities seized the communication software in an illegal and abusive manner, which represents a clear violation of constitutional norms and principles, requiring the declaration of all evidence to be invalid."