One of South America’s most feared crime gangs is dramatically increasing its supply of cocaine into Australia, a top Brazilian law enforcement official has warned.
Closely tied to Italy’s ’Ndrangheta and organised crime groups across the Balkans, Brazil’s Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) is thought to be Latin America’s largest gang, with an estimated annual revenue of more than $1 billion.
A PCC member in Sao Paulo in 2006. Latin America’s largest gang is estimated to have an annual revenue of more than $1 billion.Credit: AP
The PCC is increasingly focused on Australia as a destination for cocaine thanks to high prices and stability of the local market, says Lieutenant Colonel Rodrigo Duton, a 27-year veteran of Rio de Janeiro’s State Military Police.
A new trade route from Brazil to Vanuatu, primarily for chicken, has created new opportunities for the PCC. Frozen containers are difficult for customs officers to inspect, and new trade routes tend to generate less scrutiny, according to Duton in a new report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
Pandemic disruptions to global shipping also forced drug traffickers to change business models, moving away from shipping containers and towards maritime-based imports secreted in or on the hulls of legitimate tankers.
Brazilian Bruno Borges Martins died trying to dive for cocaine imported to Australia by the PCC.Credit: Facebook
The PCC was behind 2.5 tonnes of cocaine discovered in a North Sydney fruitier’s consignment of banana pulp in 2020, says Duton in the report.
The gang was also responsible for sending two Brazilian divers – one of whom perished while the other remains at large – to the Port of Newcastle in 2022 in a failed attempt to remove more than 100 kilograms of cocaine from the hull of a tanker vessel, he says.
Meanwhile, a 2024 plot to import 46 kilograms of cocaine inside a shipping container that held 264 drums of concentrated orange juice was thwarted by Brazilian customs at the Port of Santos.
Last month, an investigation by this masthead revealed drug cartels are moving their product via an oceanic superhighway that runs directly into the Port of Newcastle, the world’s largest coal port.
“The PCC is likely employing a hybrid strategy that involves both direct involvement and partnerships with local criminal networks,” Duton told the Herald.
“The PCC’s infiltration into Australia aligns with its broader strategy of international expansion, leveraging global trade networks and alliances with local crime groups.”
More than 550 kilograms of cocaine hidden in banana pulp from Brazil in 2020. Credit: Australian Federal Police
This can involve PCC members onshore in Sydney, working with bikies, Lebanese and Middle Eastern criminal groups and established cocaine importers.
Australia must guard against recruitment for the PCC in prison, increase scrutiny on suspicious financial transactions and increase visa scrutiny to prevent key operatives from entering Australia under false identities, said Duton.
“The PCC is increasingly integrating into existing organised crime networks, expanding maritime smuggling routes, and leveraging financial crimes to launder proceeds.”
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