Brazil’s Receita Federal ran Operation Fronteira in Sant’Ana do Livramento to intensify action against smuggling, customs evasion, drug trafficking and other irregularities on the Brazil-Uruguay border.[1] Intelligence work by the Receita Federal’s Repression Division together with the Rio Grande do Sul Civil Police narcotics department, Denarc, identified a suspect parcel.[1] After monitoring a parcel from western Paraná, the agencies made a controlled delivery that ended with the seizure of approximately 16 kilograms of hashish valued at about R$480,000.[1] Two people were arrested when they came to collect the parcel.[1] The joint anti-drug action took place on 5 November, when the R$480,000 in seizures and the two arrests were recorded.[1]

In a balance released on Monday the 9th, the agency put the operation’s first week at eight arrests and seizures valued at about R$3 million in total.[1] The work involved customs inspection, parcel monitoring, vehicle checks and joint action with public-security bodies.[1] Other items retained included goods, vehicles, foreign coins of numismatic interest, collectors’ plates, cosmetics, mobile phones and other products showing signs of irregularity.[1] Sant’Ana do Livramento shares an integrated urban area with Rivera in Uruguay, which demands constant attention from the customs-control bodies.[1]