Brazil’s Federal Police, the Polícia Federal, launched Operation Caronte on 4 November 2026 to investigate a group suspected of transporting drugs between states.[1][2] Acting on court orders, officers are executing three preventive arrest warrants, which order detention before trial, and five search-and-seizure warrants in the states of Amazonas and Ceará.[1][2]

That investigation started in July 2023 after officers seized about 25 kg of maconha, the Portuguese word for cannabis or marijuana, in Barra do Garças, a town described as 516 km from Cuiabá.[1][2] Investigators say the evidence points to an organised structure for coordinating, financing, handling logistics for and carrying out drug transport between different Brazilian states.[3][2] According to the Federal Police account, the group coordinated and financed drug movements while organising logistics and executing the transport trips.[1]

Investigators also identified financial movements deemed suspicious among people linked to the facts under investigation.[3][2] They are examining whether that money came from drug trafficking and the interstate transport activity.[1] The stated aim of Operation Caronte is to dismantle the suspected criminal organisation investigated for interstate drug transport and for handling funds supposedly from that illicit activity.[3]

The operation seeks to gather new evidence, identify the involvement of those under investigation and deepen the inquiry into the organisation’s financial structure.[2]