The Cocaine Pipeline Hiding Inside Global Trade -By Fransiscus Nanga Roka

Operation EREDITÀ made headlines with seven arrestsą in São Paulo on September 16 from a large drug store that sold tainted meth. Brazilian police, backed by Italian investigators and Europol, searched five residences and two commercial premises from which €60 million ($68.4 million) was generated between 2013 and 2023; they also seized nine properties and two companies, a billionaire’s yacht, more than 40 bank accounts in the criminals’ names as well as dozens of cars such as Ferraris. According to the court, they also aided with moving cocaine between Brazil and Europe and laundering its proceeds for a network associated to Italy’s ‘Ndrangheta mafia. They are a breakthrough in an investigation, not a conviction.

The more alarming story is that the machinery was to all appearances rather mundane. The 18-month investigation found the network hid cocaine in commercial freight, including ceramics, timber, sanitary goods and food by concealing multi-tonne shipments. Cargo crossed the Atlantic in an incredibly fast system of trade reliant on bulk throughput. Traffickers allegedly took advantage of that speed, and then funnelled profits via businesses, property and financial intermediaries to conceal the money.

Eredità means “inheritance.” A title that is especially appropriate for the question this case poses. The probe forces investigators to link it with the arrests of alleged cocaine middleman Nicola Assisi and his son Patrick in Brazil in 2019. But the professed pipeline seems to have outlived the assassinations of leading members. Prosecutors point to continuity, and if proven, the stark lesson will be that while a broker’s arrest can halt one shipment it need not sever the ties that fund, mask and swap it.

Operation in September is one of the follow-ups, after SAMBA and MAFIUSI were earlier Italian-Brazilian investigations, which Europol claims resulted in 28 arrests. That history showcases the work of what cooperation can look like. It also shows the futility of declaring victory by counting cuffs. At the same time, a network capable of making legitimate use of illicit activity and reinvesting alleged proceeds into legally defensible goods is embedded in the systems investigators have to investigate.

Now Brazil and governments in Europe should pursue three interlinked objectives. Investigators should begin by following the money via companies, property purchases and cross-border transfers identified in the case, confiscating only where evidence and courts allow it. Second, customs and port authorities should link shipment histories, ownership records and financial intelligence so as to flag suspicious looking freight while allowing genuine exporters to continue trading. Third, authorities should conserve and share prosecutable evidence in a manner that makes cross-border arrests yield just results against organizers and facilitators rather than merely interchangeable couriers.

Authorities should also follow up with what happens next: the filing of charges, court results, assets ultimately seized and if there is evidence whether the route continues. Specifics of actions definitely has more difficulty for being paraded than a action day photo. They offer a more truthful test of how well you have done.

Operation EREDITÀ exposes the main vulnerability in countering cocaine trafficking across the Atlantic. Criminal networks can leverage the global commerce infrastructure and credibility. Governments need to make the people coordinating shipments and pocketing the profits as visible to justice as drugs found inside a container if they want to beat them.

Fransiscus Nanga Roka

Faculty of Law University 17 August 1945 Surabaya and Managing Partner Law Firm Victorious Indonesia