Brazilian police arrest alleged PCC drug trafficking commander at Port of Santos
São Paulo Civil Police arrested Leandro Teixeira de Andrade, known as “Portuga,” in Santos, on the coast of São Paulo state, in an operation tied to Port of Santos drug trafficking investigations.
Andrade, identified by police as a member of the First Command of the Capital, or PCC, one of Brazil’s most powerful criminal organizations, has been convicted of drug trafficking. Investigators describe him as an early ally of André do Rap, a leading PCC drug trafficker who has been a fugitive since October 2020.
Portuga was arrested by officers from Santos’ 2nd Narcotics Investigation Precinct, known as Dise.
During questioning after his arrest, Portuga remained silent and refused to provide material for a handwriting analysis, a forensic examination of signatures and handwritten notes. Estadão said it was seeking comment from his defense team.
According to the investigation, Portuga was responsible for obtaining cocaine shipments, defining the drug’s destination and recruiting workers at container-stuffing and shipment terminals at the Port of Santos. Investigators referred to him as a “commander” and said he also exerted influence over drug-selling points in Morro do Jabaquara and the Rádio Clube area.
After his conviction in federal court under Operation Overseas, he allegedly began leasing drug-selling points and adopting measures to make it harder for authorities to locate him.
Information gathered by investigators also pointed to the use of fake documents and short-term rental apartments. Intelligence work and cross-checking of information led police to an apartment on Avenida Epitácio Pessoa, in the Aparecida neighborhood, on the morning of Tuesday, August 25.
Police seized a portion of cocaine, $4,000 in cash, cellphones and a notebook containing notes on chemical substances and quantities. They also found work uniforms from two Port of Santos terminals and a vehicle.
Among the substances found with Portuga were zinc chloride, acetic acid, polyvinyl alcohol and distilled water. According to investigators, the combination of these materials can form plastic, adhesive or hydrogel matrices capable of acting as binders to press cocaine or allowing the drug to be impregnated into clothes and fabrics or incorporated into the structure of objects.
Based on the material found and other elements of the investigation, police said a new in flagrante drug-trafficking situation had been established. Portuga was indicted under Article 33 of Brazil’s Drug Law.
He had already been arrested in 2017, two years after being convicted by the 5th Federal Court of Santos. At the time, André de Oliveira Macedo, known as André do Rap, Fábio Dias dos Santos, Jefferson Moreira da Silva and Luciano Hermenegildo Pereira were also convicted. Their names were later included on Interpol’s Red Notice list.
André do Rap, identified as the head of the PCC’s international drug-trafficking operations, was released in October 2020 by Supreme Court Justice Marco Aurélio Mello, who found that his pretrial detention had exceeded the legal time limit without a final conviction. Authorities suspect he may be hiding outside Brazil.
“The arrest of Portuga is the result of meticulous investigative and intelligence work carried out by the Interior Judicial Police Department 6,” said Luiz Carlos do Carmo, director of Deinter 6.
Carmo said Portuga is a convicted drug trafficker “with ties to major figures in organized crime, who adopted strategies to try to evade justice.”
“Our teams were able to identify his whereabouts and carry out the arrest. Now we will deepen the investigation into all the material seized and any possible connections with other members of the drug trade,” the police chief said.
The case adds to broader concerns over Port of Santos drug trafficking, as Brazilian authorities continue to monitor how criminal groups seek to use the country’s largest port complex to move cocaine through international cargo flows.
Source: Estadão