Department of Border Operations teams carried out the action during Operation Protetor.[1] A 27-year-old road military police soldier and a 19-year-old student were arrested in flagrante for drug trafficking on the afternoon of Monday 10 August on highway MS-164 near Vista Alegre district in Maracaju.[1] The car was driven by military police officer Luiz Rhuan Horiguchi, who said he was returning from Ponta Porã to Campo Grande, where he lives.[1] The other named passenger was 19-year-old Ingra Laylla Machado de Medeiros of Belo Horizonte, who seemed nervous and could not detail how long she had stayed in the border region.[1] The third occupant, a 23-year-old student, had his belongings checked with nothing illicit found and was heard as a witness.[1]
Officers found 14 packages of skunk totalling 4.1 kg in the young woman’s backpack during the vehicle inspection.[1] The loss to crime from the seizure was estimated at R$101,300.[1] She admitted to police that she knew about the drug and said she had agreed to carry it from Ponta Porã to Belo Horizonte for R$3,000 after a friend invited her to travel and she was left without money to return.[1] She said the driver did not know about the illicit contents.[1] DOF officers reported that before the drug was found the driver had said he inspected all passengers’ bags before boarding.[1] Questioned again after the seizure, the officer chose to remain silent.[1]
At Defron in Dourados the officer changed his account, denying a full search and saying he had only squeezed the bag.[1] He repeated that he used a platform to offer rides and had no knowledge of the drug.[1] Civil Police ratified the flagrante arrest of both suspects.[1] The delegate sought conversion of Ingra’s flagrante into preventive detention, citing interstate logistics and the quantity of drugs.[1] The order noted no concrete risk to public order or obstruction, highlighting his fixed address, active service ties and voluntary handover of his phone with its password for examination.[1] At the 12 August custody hearing the court converted Ingra’s detention to preventive detention and granted the soldier provisional liberty.[2] The judge authorized forensic examination of the phones seized from those involved.[2] The court also ordered incineration of the seized drug while preserving a sample for possible counter-proof.[2]
