February 6, 2023
Reading time • 5 min
PF action dismantles group involved in smuggling of Argentine wines in SC
The Federal Police, with the support of the Internal Revenue Office and the Military Police of Santa Catarina, launched on this Thursday (2) morning, Operation Assemblage. The objective of the action was to dismantle a group that operates in smuggling (non-payment of taxes) of wines of Argentine origin.
There are 16 search and seizure warrants issued by the Federal Court of Chapecó, in homes and businesses located in the municipalities of Guarujá do Sul, Palhoça, São José and Joinville, and Curitiba (PR).
During the course of the investigation, which lasted for two years, it was identified an Argentine merchant from the border city of Bernardo de Irigoyen (Missiones Province in Argentina) who was carrying out the supply of large quantities of Argentine wines to Brazil through cargo carriers, known as “pullers”.
The shippers are members of a group that operated in an organised and structured way in the transportation of drinks, under the command of a man who lives in Dionisio Cerqueira. It was also possible to ascertain that four other persons, residents of Guarujá do Sul, received the embezzled goods and took charge of hiding the cases of wines in licit cargos of furniture, hay and even toilet paper. The goods were destined for the Santa Catarina coast and the cities of Curitiba (PR) and São Paulo (SP).
The investigated have already been the target of other similar operations of the Federal Police: in 2019 four trucks and two other motor vehicles were seized with the group, in addition to about 2,300 boxes of wines.
In the searches performed, firearms, documents and a large quantity of wines object of smuggling, which were kept in warehouses in Palhoça and Curitiba, were seized. Those involved in this operation are investigated for the crime of smuggling practiced in criminal association, totaling seven years of imprisonment.
