Thirty packages containing 31.9 kilograms of a substance preliminarily identified as suspected cocaine base were found hidden beneath a truck cab in Ciudad del Este. The vehicle was stopped at around 11:50 p.m. on Wednesday, September 23, on Route PY02, near kilometer 7.
The driver, Kiker Augusto Pereira Cabral, a 26-year-old Paraguayan resident of Hernandarias, said he was transporting a load of rice grains. During the inspection, officers found a compartment between the cab and the chassis, containing rectangular packages wrapped in green adhesive tape.
After the discovery, the white 2002 Scania 124 L truck was taken to the Central Base of the Alto Paraná Regional Investigations Department on Route PY07 for a more detailed inspection. The truck, semitrailer and evidence were then taken to the National Police Anti-Narcotics Department headquarters in Presidente Franco, where the packages were counted and weighed.
The driver was detained by order of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. A Redmi 15C cellphone and the semitrailer were also seized. Prosecutor Manuel Rojas Rodríguez, of the Ciudad del Este Specialized Anti-Narcotics Unit No. 2, was informed of the case; assistant prosecutor Andrés Acosta accompanied the procedure. The investigation seeks to determine the load’s origin and destination and whether other people were involved.
The substance’s classification has not been presented consistently: the detailed account describes its preliminary identification as suspected cocaine base, while another text calls it cocaine. The reported weight is 31.9 kilograms. Brazil’s Federal Highway Police was also mentioned in a report about the seizure in Brazil of a BMW with Paraguayan license plates and cocaine hidden in a false compartment, but the accounts provided do not establish a connection between that case and the truck stopped in Ciudad del Este.