Crew member from Brazilian president's plane detained in Seville with 39 kilos of cocaine
The Spanish Civil Guard on Tuesday arrested a military crew member from a plane used by the Brazilian Air Force to fly President Jair Bolsonaro on international trips.
Sources from the Civil Guard confirmed that the man was in possession of 39 kilos (86 pounds) of cocaine when he was detained.
The arrest was made when the plane in which the suspect was flying made a stopover at around 2pm at Seville airport in the south of Spain.
The arrested man, a 38-year-old petty officer whose identity has not been supplied, got off the plane with a suit bag and an item of hand luggage. When Spanish officers checked the bag, they found it filled with 39 kilo packets of cocaine. “It wasn’t even hidden among clothes,” the same sources explained.
The aircraft was headed to Japan, where it was due to be used as a reserve plane for the Brazilian leader, who was to fly to the same destination in another aircraft to take part in the G-20 meeting taking place this week in Osaka.
The arrest is a blow for the right-wing Bolsonaro, who campaigned last year on toughening drug laws - including reinstating the death penalty, even for non-capital crimes - and who frequently praises Brazil’s armed forces.
At: https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/06/26/inenglish/1561557312_000835.html
Far-right Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro during a recent Evangelical rally.
Today's arrest of a Brazilian presidential aircraft crew member carrying pure cocaine with a street value of around $1 million, contrasts sharply with Bolsonaro's law-and-order bluster.
