HomeNewsBriefBrazil Developing Technology to Trace Cocaine 'DNA'
BRIEF

Brazil Developing Technology to Trace Cocaine 'DNA'

BOLIVIA / 8 FEB 2013 BY ELYSSA PACHICO EN

Brazil's Federal Police director said that his nation was developing ways to trace cocaine's origins through chemical analysis, more evidence of resolve by Latin America's superpower to confront drug trafficking in the region. 

Police Director Leandro Daiello said that Brazil was experimenting with scientific procedures that would detect the "DNA" of cocaine seized inside the country, EFE reported. Brazil has already built up a database to facilitate this process and is willing to share the information with Bolivia, believed to be the main producer of the cocaine seized in Brazil, Daiello added.

The practice is already used by US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and has been employed inside Colombia, in order to track batches of cocaine back to particular coca-growing regions. It involves analyzing trace alkaloids in cocaine samples, and then tracing them back to coca leaves grown in specific areas. Coca leaves are the raw material for cocaine production. 

Daiello made the remarks during a two-day meeting between security and government representatives from Bolivia and Peru in La Paz. Representatives from Colombia and the United Nations also attended the meeting, which is expected to result in a pact outlining terms under which unmanned Brazilian aircraft may monitor Bolivian airspace for suspected drug traffickers.

InSight Crime Analysis

Brazil's cocaine tracking is likely to face some of the same challenges confronted by the DEA in the Andean region. Because coca leaves may be processed into coca base in one country, then refined into cocaine hydrochloride (HCl) in other countries, this could make the identification of the cocaine's geographical origin difficult to determine. 

Daiello's comments speak to the amount of resources -- both scientific and military -- that Brazil is willing to invest in the war against drug trafficking in the Southern Cone region. Brazil is facing a crack cocaine epidemic and has become the single biggest consumer of the drug after the United States, as well as being a transhipment point for drugs heading to Europe. Asides from donating technological assistance and anti-narcotics training to its neighbors, Brazil has become more active in anti-drug operations in other countries, particularly Bolivia

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BRAZIL / 13 JAN 2022

Three shipments of cocaine were caught on the same day as they were about to head to France, Spain and…

BRAZIL / 16 JUN 2021

Rio de Janeiro’s foremost militia leader has been gunned down by police, potentially shattering the belief that militias in the…

BRAZIL / 27 APR 2021

Fahd Jamil Georges, a veteran drug trafficker along the Paraguay-Brazil border, said he surrendered to authorities after being threatened by…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…