Brazil’s Federal Revenue and Customs Secretariat and the Federal Police participated Wednesday, May 4, on a joint effort to dismantle a smuggling and deviation scheme of electro-electronic products, tires, cigarettes, and other Paraguayan products.
They counted on the help of the Federal Justice, which issued 90 arrest orders and 146 search and detention warrants in Paraná, São Paulo, Mato Grosso, and Mato Grosso do Sul.
This is the result of the Hydra Operation, initiated a year ago, which dismantled the criminal organization headed by the Balan family, of Mato Grosso do Sul.
The group is also known as “The Firm.” It used ghost companies – especially transportation ones of Maringá and Umuarama, in Paraná – and transported products in trucks with hidden compartments.
24 fiscal auditors and over 300 federal police officers participated on the investigations. They searched warehouses and companies used by the criminals to keep illegal products.
They seized trucks and arrested people that acted as phony entrepreneurs for the Balan family. Some vehicles had cloned license plates, according to the Secretariat.
ABr
