Police arrested 21 agents on suspicion of providing protection to a criminal organization in Paraguay

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(CNN Spanish) - The Prosecutor's Office of Paraguay announced Monday that police arrested 21 agents on suspicion of providing protection to a cross-border criminal organization dedicated to drug trafficking.

According to prosecutor Marcos Alcaraz, the arrests are part of a simultaneous procedure called “Operation North 2” and were carried out by forces of the National Police and the National Anti-Drug Secretariat
mainly in the northern part of the country.

Alcaraz said that "this second phase has to do with the involvement of the authorities that not only provided support, but also provided all kinds of assistance in logistics, protection and privileged information."

The detained agents are suspected of protecting a criminal organization that, according to the Prosecutor's Office of Paraguay, was led by a Brazilian drug lord, Levi Adriani Felicio, who operated in the department of Amambay.

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The capo was arrested on October 15 during the execution of the first stage of this procedure, called "Operation North." Felicio was expelled from Paraguay and handed over to the police in his country one day after his capture. According to prosecutor Alcaraz, that decision was made because Felicio had convictions and pending proceedings with the Brazilian justice.

According to the Anti-Drug Secretariat of Paraguay, Adriani Felicio is recognized as the leader of one of the most important illicit traffic structures operating in Paraguay since 2014, and had very strong contacts with the two major transnational criminal associations in Brazil: the Vermelho Command and the First Capital Command.

The commander of the National Police, Francisco Resquín, reported that after the arrest of Adriani Felicio in the middle of this month, investigations continued to find his local accomplices.

Resquín emphasized that they will persecute corrupt police until the end. “We are not going to tolerate police complicity with organized crime and that this is an example for all police officers, that we are going to investigate all
cases, and police officers who are involved with both organized crime and common criminals. ”

According to the Prosecutor's Office, the investigations began in March 2018. During one of the raids to find Adriani Felicio they had found notes in a notebook that required amounts for different
police units.

However, when consulted by the press, the Minister of the National Anti-Drug Secretariat (Senad), Arnaldo Giuzzio, clarified that the arrests are not based on these annotations, but on intelligence information
which is managed by the police and the National Anti-Drug Secretariat.

Giuzzio stressed that "both the Senad and the Public Ministry not only point to the seizure of drugs, but also to the individualization of the criminal structure."

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The Prosecutor's Office reported that among the detainees there are chief commissioners and sub-commissioners, as well as lower-ranking agents.

So far the identity of detained officers has not been disclosed.

The "Operation North 2", which resulted in the arrest of more than 20 police officers, was held in several departments of Paraguay, including the capital, Asunción.