HomeNewsBriefFormer Paraguay Police Chief Arrested for Drug Smuggling
BRIEF

Former Paraguay Police Chief Arrested for Drug Smuggling

PARAGUAY / 10 FEB 2012 BY JAKE HARPER EN

A former police chief in Paraguay is accused of trafficking after being captured moving cocaine, an arrest which highlights the vulnerability to corruption among security forces and the country's growing role in regional organized crime.

As Digital ABC reported, Commissioner Hermes Enrique Argaña, ex-Chief of Investigation for Ciudad del Este, is accused of possession of drugs, working with two men, allegedly drug traffickers with links to a kidnapping ring, who accompanied him at the time of the arrest. Argaña’s apparent role was to use his status to provide cover to the men transporting the drugs. However Argaña said he knew nothing of the cocaine in the vehicle.

The former police chief was arrested in Ciudad de Este, long known as a smuggling center thanks to its presence along the borders with both Brazil and Argentina. He had also been convicted in 1990 of murder, but somehow managed to secure his freedom and reincorporation into the police force, again suggesting some shady dealings within the Paraguay police.

InSight Crime Analysis

Argaña’s arrest suggests that senior officials, active and retired, are not immune to corruption, and provides further evidence that security in the country is vulnerable. As InSight reported last year, Paraguay’s inability to make headway against the rebels of the Paraguayan People's Army (EPP) has embarrassed authorities, and Paraguayan marines have fired at Brazilian police allegedly to help smugglers. Argaña’s attempt to bribe the arresting agents also suggests past success in similar operations.

Paraguay’s involvement in drug trafficking has increased significantly in the last year. The country is a huge supplier of marijuana and often provides a transport route for cocaine going from Bolivia into Brazil and Argentina. The trend has caused Brazil to militarize its border with Paraguay, disrupting legitimate trade and causing conflicts between Paraguayan and Brazilian security forces.

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.

Tags

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

BOLIVIA / 8 MAR 2023

InSight Crime reviews Latin America and the Caribbean's cocaine seizure date from 2022 to find out what it reveals about…

BRAZIL / 15 JUN 2023

From Colima to Caracas, some parts of Latin America have stubbornly high homicide rates, far higher than the rest of…

PARAGUAY / 10 JUN 2022

Authorities in Paraguay have dismantled a ring that sold a range of synthetic drugs, indicating that this subset of the…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…