Brazilian teenager arrested ‘trying to smuggle €455,000 of cocaine into Ireland’

The Irish Mirror has learned that the teenager was arrested at Rio De Janeiro’s main Galeao airport in Brazil on Saturday

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By

Michael O’TooleCrime Correspondent

• 14:40, 5 FEB 2024
• Updated14:45, 5 FEB 2024

A Brazilian man is facing up to 15 years in jail after he was arrested trying to smuggle almost €500,000 worth of cocaine into Ireland.

The Irish Mirror has learned that the teenager was arrested at Rio De Janeiro’s main Galeao airport in Brazil on Saturday afternoon – shortly before he was about to board a flight to Europe.

Brazilian Federal Police Officers, working with the Air Force to mount a security operation at the airport, said the 18-year-old was planning to fly to Dublin via Frankfurt in Germany.

But the police airport screening operation indicated drugs were in his baggage and when the luggage was searched officers found 6.5 kilos of suspected cocaine – worth a cool €455,000.

The suspect, who is living in Ireland, was arrested at the scene and has been charged with international drug trafficking – an offence that carries a maximum jail term of 15 years in Brazil.

Brazilian police said in a statement that the suspect was now being held in Rio’s José Frederico Marques Public Prison.

The police said: “The Federal Police and the Brazilian Air Force arrested on Saturday afternoon a young 18-year-old Brazilian man who was transporting 6.5 kg of cocaine at Rio de Janeiro International Airport Galeao.

“He intended to embark for Frankfurt, Germany, and the drug’s final destination would be Dublin, the capital of Ireland, where he was living.

“The federal police stationed at the Special Police Station at Galeao International Airport and Brazilian Air Force, after routine inspection, identified the drugs inside the luggage checked in by the passenger and carried out his arrest.

“The prisoner was taken to the José Frederico Marques Public Prison, in Benfica, in Rio de Janeiro. He will answer for the crime of international drug trafficking. The penalty can be up to 15 years in prison.

“The action takes place within the scope of the Guarantee of Law and Order operation, which is a joint investigation between the Federal Police, Armed Forces and other public security and airport inspection bodies.