Officers of the Departamento de Operações de Fronteira (DOF) seized more than 33 tonnes of marijuana in Maracaju on 26 August 2020 during Operation Horus patrols along the MS-166.[1][2] They spotted a bitrem truck with Maracaju plates on a rural access road trying to turn away from the patrol, and when the driver ignored the stop order he abandoned the truck and fled on foot into nearby woods.[1] Inside the truck’s two trailers officers found hundreds of marijuana bales.[1][2]
A white Ford Ka with Maracaju plates was following the truck, driven by a 25-year-old with a 45-year-old passenger; both showed excessive nervousness and could give no convincing reason for being there.[1] A search found a radio hidden in the dashboard, and the pair confessed they were scouts warning the driver about police.[1] Both were taken with the vehicles and the drugs to the Defron border-crimes station, where they were charged in flagrante with drug trafficking, criminal association and clandestine telecommunications activity.[1]
The department put the load at 33.3 tonnes, the largest drug seizure ever recorded in Brazil at the time, surpassing a 28-tonne seizure that May in Iguatemi.[1][2] It estimated the traffickers’ loss at R$50.3 million.[2]
