This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 SAO PAULO 000872 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/BSC, DS, DS/DSS. DS/DSS/IP,DS/IP/WHA, 
DH/IP/NEA, DS/IP/ITA, DS/CR/CIL, DS/IP/IPO, WHA/PD, INL 
NSC FOR SUE CRONIN AND ZARATE 
TREASURY FOR OFAC 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/21/2015 
TAGS: SNAR PTER ASEC PGOV ETTC EFIN SOCI BR
SUBJECT: BREAK-UP OF LEBANESE DRUG RING IN BRAZIL 
 
REF: SAO PAULO 683 
 
Classified By: A/CG DAVID WOLFE FOR REASONS 1.4(D) 
 
¶1.  (S) SUMMARY:  On June 17, 2005, the Brazilian Federal 
Police (DPF) broke up a Lebanese-organized drug ring based in 
Sao Paulo and operating in a number of cites in southern 
Brazil.  8Operation Tamara,8 (thedate fruit in 
Portuguese,) involved coordinationwith the German federal 
police and U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration,s (DEA) 
Regional Office atConsulate General Sao Paulo (SPRO).  Press 
repors on the operation specifically mentioned DEA,s 
nvolvement in the operation, although no direct inolvement 
of DEA personnel from Consulate Sao Paulo has yet been made 
in the press.  The press also reported that DPF stated that 
the drugs seized, some 65 kilos of cocaine worth USD 400,000, 
came from Paraguay and Bolivia and were destined for Europe 
and the Middle East.  Press reports indicated that in 
addition to the drug seizures, one goal of the DPF was to 
identify members of Hezbollah living and operating in Brazil. 
Post is attempting to ascertain if any of the arrested 
Lebanese drug traffickers have connections with Hezbollah or 
any terrorist group. END SUMMARY 
 
PRESS SPOTLIGHTS INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS AND COOPERATION 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) On Friday, June 17, after eleven months of 
investigation, Brazilian Federal Police arrested 17 members 
of a Lebanese-organized drug ring operating in Sao Paulo and 
southern Brazil.  Extensive press reports on the operation 
highlighted the transnational scope of the drug ring as well 
as international law enforcement cooperation with the DPF 
investigating the group. The press reports indicated that 
authorities believe that the ring, which comprises five 
Lebanese families, typically sends approximately 120 kilos of 
cocaine per month from Brazil to Europe and launders the 
proceeds by purchasing real estate and expensive luxury 
automobiles in Brazil and Lebanon. (Note: The reports differ 
on the quantity smuggled each month. End Note)  Authorities 
reportedly believe that the drugs enter Brazil from Bolivia 
and Paraguay through the border city of Foz do Iguacu in the 
Brazil-Paraguay-Argentina tri-border region and from Ponta 
Pora on the border of the southwestern state of Mato Grosso 
do Sul State and Paraguay.  Ring members reportedly 
transported the drugs to Sao Paulo, where they contracted 
Brazilian,  Dutch, Canadian, Nigerian and South African 
couriers to smuggle the drugs to Frankfurt, Lisbon and 
locations in the Middle East, passing through the airports of 
Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, and Recife.  Press 
reports indicate that the authorities first became aware of 
the drug-smuggling operation in June 2004, when three 
Americans were arrested on drug charges in Istanbul, after 
disembarking from a flight from Sao Paulo. 
 
 
 
¶3.  (U) Press reports indicate that the drug ring is believed 
to comprise several families of Lebanese descent who, having 
fled Lebanon during the 1980s, settled in Brazil, Germany and 
Switzerland.  The press reports describe the confiscation of 
documents written in Arabic and a large, framed picture of 
the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, in one of the 
apartments of the ring members. The press indicated that USD 
190,000 was found in the apartment of one of the ring members. 
 
¶4. (U) Folha do Sao Paulo, Brazil,s largest circulation 
daily, reported that in addition to dismantling the drug 
ring, the DPF,s objective is to identify members of 
Hezbollah operating in Brazil.  The same press article claims 
that Hezbollah has 140 members in Brazil. According to press 
statements, documents confiscated during Operation 8Tamara8 
will be passed to international intelligence agencies for 
evaluation. 
 
POST PERSPECTIVE ON THE OPERATION 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (S) DEA personnel working with DPF agents note that a 
possible Hezbollah connection was not a focus during the 
course of the investigation.  It should be noted that the GOB 
has consistently denied that any Hezbollah agents or agents 
of any other Middle Eastern terrorist organization operate in 
Brazil.  Operational aspects of the case are being reported 
through DEA channels.  Post DEA reports that the amount 
seized in the raid was closer to USD 300,000, not USD 
190,000, as reported in the press. 
 
¶6.  (S) DEA began investigating the ring in cooperation with 
DPF after the three Americans were arrested in Istanbul, 
Turkey and one in Sao Paulo in 2004.  In addition, two other 
Americans were arrested in Madrid and Amsterdam in early 2004 
with links to this ring.  Currently, DEA authorities in 
Florida are conducting investigations on these Americans and 
the Lebanese-Brazilian involved. 
 
¶7.  (S) COMMENT:  DEA notes that one of the outstanding 
questions from this operation is the final destination for 
the profits of this lucrative cocaine trade.  Past experience 
has been that Brazilian authorities lack effective tools to 
track the profits of illicit drug operations; coordination 
between financial officials and counter-narcotics agents has 
not been good.  While DEA, DPF and German Federal Police were 
arresting members of the Brazilian drug ring in 8Operation 
Tamara,8 Ecuadorian authorities reportedly arrested seven 
operatives in a drug smuggling/Hezbollah ring in Quito, 
Ecuador in 8Operation Damascus.8  BBC On-Line indicates 
that organizers of the Ecuadorian ring were sending seventy 
percent of profits to Hezbollah. 
 
¶8.  (S) Regional Security Office (RSO) Sao Paulo is 
coordinating with DEA to determine whether any of the 
documents obtained in these, or other recent arrests include 
U.S. passports or visas.  RSO is investigating any possible 
repercussions against post or personnel from these recent 
arrests, or from the press reports identifying DEA,s 
participation in the investigation.  Post is attempting to 
determine whether any of the arrested Lebanese-Brazilians 
have connections to Hezbollah, or any other middle-eastern 
terrorist network.  So far we have not found any evidence of 
such a connection. End Comment. 
WOLFE