Source: Correio Braziliense Online - Brasília / DF - 27/03/2010

Agency Brazil

The Federal Police is investigating four companies suspected of passing on chemical products used for drug synthesis, refining and adulteration to drug trafficking. One of the companies has already officially opened the investigation and three are awaiting the completion of bureaucratic procedures to make the investigations official.

They are among almost a hundred enterprises in the field of pharmaceuticals, chemicals and beverages that, in a universe of 20 thousand inspected by the PF, presented some kind of irregularity in the information provided to the entity about stock, trade, movement, transformation and loss of 146 controlled chemicals.

According to the head of inspection of the Chemical Products Control Division (DCPQ) of the Federal Police, federal criminal expert Marcos Camargo, the entity also monitors mixtures and dilutions involving these products, in order to prevent them from being diverted for drug trafficking.

Camargo points out that the legislation equates the diversion of chemical products intended for drug preparation to the crime of drug trafficking.

“There is jargon that says: without chemicals there are no drugs. Thus, the idea of ​​control is, on the one hand, preventive because it prevents illicit access to chemicals necessary for the production of the drug and, thus, prevents production and distribution in the market. On the other hand, it is repressive because it identifies outbreaks of diversion and stops supply to drug traffickers, in addition to helping with the investigation aimed at punishing those involved, ”Camargo told Agência Brasil.

Among the substances, the expert highlights ephedrine, caffeine, lidocaine, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, Safrole oil, ether and acetone. With the difficulty in marketing the 146 controlled products, a black market was created, with profits estimated at up to 300% of the original value.

“Every deviation is an irregularity, but not every irregularity is a deviation. That is why we created tools that allow us to assess whether the irregularity belongs to a purely administrative field or whether it is the result of a diversion towards drug trafficking, ”explained the expert.

Camargo said that among the nearly one hundred companies that did not present the information properly, a good part are due to easily identifiable administrative errors. "In this sense, an administrative control is carried out that involves the registration of companies that wish or need to work with these inputs in quantities above the monthly exemption limits provided for in the law," he said.

In addition to registration and licenses, companies are required to send monthly movement maps containing monthly stock control, evaluation of imports, evaluation of inspection records and adoption of administrative sanctions, among other items.

“The main target is, in the first instance, the person who deviates. But afterwards, we have better conditions to reach the dealer ”, adds the expert. “It is a way of reaching the heart of the crime, and not just in the mule [a term to designate people who transport drugs, at the service of the drug dealer]”, he adds.

According to Camargo, the fight against drug trafficking has undergone a process of evolution. “It started with the search for the user, started with the search for the small dealer, evolved into criminal organizations and now covers prevention, that is, preventing the drug from reaching the market through the impossibility of using the necessary chemical inputs. your preparation, ”he said.

The control of chemical products is an action proposed by the United Nations. "We can say without any fear that Brazil is the one with the greatest technology and the greatest knowledge in this area and, therefore, it is the country that best controls chemical products and the one that most represses their illicit use", guaranteed the expert.