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Main cocaine and heroin distribution cell in Bragança dismantled

Main cocaine and heroin distribution cell in Bragança dismantled

Drug trafficker packing bricks

The National Guard (GNR) said today that it had dismantled the main cocaine and heroin distribution network in the Bragança district with operation “White Earth”.

On Thursday, the GNR carried out 22 searches, 14 in homes and eight in vehicles, in the municipalities of Vila Flor and Mirandela, where the suspects were operating from.

During the operation, the authorities arrested 11 people, three women and eight men with family connections, aged between 28 and 56.

Today, Captain Hugo Torrado, commander of the Mirandela Territorial Detachment, said that the investigations that took place on Thursday confirmed “the thesis that had been built up over the last two years that this is the main cocaine and heroin distribution cell in the Bragança district”.

The Guard seized 358 individual doses of cocaine, 190 of heroin and 10,235 euros in cash.

The authorities believe that the drugs were purchased in major centers – Porto, Leiria and Setúbal. As described by Hugo Torrado, each member of the group had a different responsibility.

“(…) From the acquisition process, transportation or the treatment process to make the product more profitable. They often kept [the drugs] buried either on public roads or on farmland (…),” said the commander.

This network used villages, especially in the municipality of Vila Flor, as points of criminal activity, where the investigation became “more complex and time-consuming”, explained Hugo Torrado.

“(…) Since these are places with narrow streets, any movement on the part of the Criminal Investigation Unit would be easily detected (…),” added the captain.

In addition to drug trafficking, the group is suspected of the crimes of firearms mediation and theft. Several objects were recovered, such as tools, household appliances and bicycles that had been stolen and then bought by the network.

Some of the products were given to the suspects “as a form of payment in the drug transaction process”, explained Hugo Torrado.

The ultimate aim was to introduce these objects onto the parallel market.

Among the detainees are three couples and the rest are related by blood. They will be heard this afternoon at the Vila Flor court, in a first judicial interrogation to find out about possible coercive measures.

The operation included reinforcements from various branches of the GNR in the north and center of the country, as well as the PSP.

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