Author: Emilio Rotta

Source: Newspaper O Informativo do Vale - Lajeado / RS - 06/07/2010

Lajeado - The 4th Federal Highway Police Station (DPRF) has already seized, in 2010, more than R $ 1,5 million in smuggled products from Paraguay. The value is well above what was apprehended in the same periods in recent years and shows that even the reinforcement of operations has not intimidated violators.

The last action took place at dawn yesterday, in Lajeado. The work was a partnership between agents of the Federal Highway Police, the Smuggling Repression Division (DIREP) and the Federal Revenue Service of Santa Cruz do Sul. Twenty vehicles from the border were approached, and in two products with no proven origin were found: the first was an Escort with a Campo Bom sign, which carried clothes, electronic equipment and other products. The second car collected was a Corsa with a plate from Cascavel, in Paraná. The car was driven by a woman, accompanied by her son. She claimed she was on her way to a hospital in Porto Alegre, but was unable to say which health facility she was traveling to. The servers searched the car and, on a false bottom in the body, found 50 objective lenses for professional cameras. The products found in the two cars were valued at R $ 70.

According to the head of the Policing and Inspection Nucleus of the 4th DPRF, Leandro Wachholz, the increase in apprehensions is due to the increase in inspection operations and the growth of illicit goods transport. “We have made more apprehensions in cars than in buses. This shows an adaptation of smugglers, a migration. Smuggling has spread: what we learned in just one bus now we find in three, four cars, ”he observes.

The most frequent products are computer materials, cigarettes and clothes - in general, destined for the Metropolitan Region. “We believe that we must create inspection mechanisms and show that strong work is being done, inhibiting circulation. Reinforcing the fight against this type of crime also results in the inhibition of other types of crime, such as cargo theft, and in greater traffic safety. ”

New actions are being planned by the PRF, which has worked in partnership with the Federal Revenue Service, the Military Brigade, the Federal Police and federal road servants from regions such as Santa Maria, Osório and Caxias do Sul.

Emilio Rotta