Porto Alegre (RS) – In ten days of Joint Operation Ágata South, more than 5 tons of drugs and 43 tons of illegal agricultural products were removed from circulation. Among the materials seized are also 12 vehicles and six vessels, as well as fishing nets, weapons and ammunition. The total loss to organized crime is estimated at approximately 10 million reais.
Around 4,000 military personnel and federal and state agents carry out various actions to combat cross-border and environmental illicit activities throughout the land and sea borders of the southern region of the country. In addition to suppressing the occurrence of cross-border illicit activities, such as drug trafficking, arms trafficking, human trafficking, smuggling and environmental crimes, Joint Operation Ágata Fronteira Sul reinforces the presence of the State in the Border Strip. The intention is also to raise awareness about the consequences of these crimes, which are associated with increased violence both in border cities and in the country’s major urban centers.
Constitutional mission
The Brazilian Federal Constitution establishes that the strip of up to 150 km wide along the land borders is considered fundamental for the defense of the national territory, under the responsibility of the Armed Forces. The operation takes place through preventive and repressive actions, in the fight against cross-border and environmental crimes in the Border Strip, including its inland waters and the sea coast.
Joint Operation Ágata South
This year, in an unprecedented way, Operation Ágata South is carried out simultaneously with the Armies of Paraguay and Uruguay, so that the same actions carried out in Brazil take place in the border region of neighboring countries. The entire control of Operation Joint Agatha South is carried out directly from the Operations Coordination Center (CCOP) of the Southern Military Command (CMS), in Porto Alegre (RS), where the Southern Joint Command is set up, responsible for receiving and coordinating all the actions of the operation in real time.
*** Translated by the DEFCONPress FYI Team ***