Customs officers in the primary customs zone of Ciudad del Este detained a 26-year-old Brazilian man who was carrying 2.2 kilograms of marijuana in a backpack.[1] The routine check was carried out by officials of the Dirección Nacional de Ingresos Tributarios (DNIT), Paraguay’s tax and customs authority, on 10 November 2026 at about 19:50, according to the Public Ministry.[1] During the inspection the officers found four packages of a suspicious substance and three mobile phones in the young man’s possession.[1]
Specialists of the Secretaría Nacional Antidrogas (Senad), Paraguay’s anti-drug agency, confirmed with a field narcotest that the four packages contained marijuana, and the weighing put the seized amount at 2.2 kilograms.[1] The evidence was taken to Senad’s headquarters.[1] Ahora CDE reported that officers of DNIT’s customs guard division at the Friendship Bridge, with the Paraguayan Navy’s Eastern Naval Area, found four polyethylene packages in the backpack as the man entered Paraguarian territory.[2] Ahora CDE identified the man as Matheus Henrique Alves Paulin, resident in Foz de Iguaçu, Brazil, who was carrying the backpack as he entered the country.[2] Ahora CDE reported that the case was referred to prosecutor Manuel Rojas of the Specialized Fiscal Unit in the Fight against Drug Trafficking of Alto Paraná, who took intervention.[2]
Prosecutor Luis Fernando Escobar, of the Specialized Unit for the Fight against Drug Trafficking No. 1 of Alto Paraná, charged the man with possession of narcotic substances and asked that he be held in preventive detention.[1] The prosecution also asked for four months to deepen the investigation, during which it plans to run laboratory analyses, arrange the destruction of the drug and take witness statements.[1] The Brazilian remained in custody at Senad’s headquarters, at the disposal of the Penal Court of Guarantees.[1]
