South Africa: Mandela Notes and Matching Cocaine 'Brands' - - How SA Features in Brazil's Cartel Investigations

By Caryn Dolley

Cocaine from Brazil keeps being intercepted in South Africa, where there are increasing accusations that law enforcers are colluding with traffickers. Daily Maverick has now compared clues from crackdowns in both countries to try to identify who in Brazil may be involved.

Nelson Mandela's face printed on cash - this is another clue connecting South Africa to one of Brazil's most notorious gangs, a heavyweight in global cocaine trafficking that has infiltrated the fuel sector there.

By scrutinising various photographs of drug crackdowns in Brazil and comparing them with police operations in South Africa, Daily Maverick has established similarities between the two sets of investigations.

It is also clear that Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), or First Capital Command, has deep ties to this country, which may indicate who is behind some of the cocaine consistently landing here.

In 2022, Daily Maverick detailed how alleged PCC boss Gilberto Aparecido dos Santos, also known as Fuminho, was once in South Africa - he appeared to have been based in Johannesburg and using another name.

Sources in local police circles had said Dos Santos, who was subsequently arrested in Mozambique, and the PCC operated here (including pushing drugs via maritime routes to the Port of Durban, which traffickers seem to favour).

Now there is more evidence suggesting the same.

'Global terrorists' and South African money

A few weeks ago, towards the end of May, the US classified the PCC and another Brazilian gang, Comando...

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