Brazil: 1 ton of marijuana found in sugar truck
A man holds a Bible with leaves pasted on the cover simulating a marijuana plant during a demo for its legalization in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on May 19, 2012.
SÃO PAULO, Brazil — A truck traveling from Paraguay to Brazil's coastal city of Guarujá was stopped by police for having one ton of marijuana hidden under its 27-ton cargo of sugar.
The drugs were hidden in a secret compartment built into the truck, reported Terra. The driver, Carlos Alberto Correia Tosta, 43, was stopped by police at a gas station in the Brazilian town of Barueri and arrested on international drug trafficking charges.
According to a report by Bom Dia Brasil, Tosta denied knowing the marijuana was in the truck. He now faces up to 15 years in prison. Police are looking for two other men involved in moving the drugs.
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Officer Celso Marchiori said the operation had been under investigation for about 45 days before the drugs were recovered, reported Agência Estado. Police received information that a new shipment was being sent from Paraguay and would pass through Mato Grosso state with a final destination of Guarujá.
"We knew that something was hidden, either weapons or drugs," Marchiori told Agência Estado. As the investigation moved on, officers discovered that the person who had made the one-ton order was to meet Tosta at the gas station. They waited, but no one showed up.
According to Bom Dia Brasil, police are still trying to identify the others involved.
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