AMAZONAS, BRAZIL — An integrated security operation seized about 4.5 tons of skunk marijuana, three AK-47 rifles, two M60 machine guns and more than 5,800 rounds of ammunition in the municipality of Codajás, in the interior of Amazonas state. According to police, the material was found during an operation to intercept a boat suspected of transporting drugs and weapons in the region.

According to the Military Police, the operation began after intelligence information indicated that drugs and weapons were being transported along the Solimões River. The boat was reportedly coming from the tri-border region between Brazil, Peru and Colombia, considered one of the main drug trafficking routes in the Amazon.

During the interception, a shootout broke out between police officers and suspects. The suspects fled into a forested area and were not located.

Police did not say how many people were aboard the boat, but intelligence assessments indicate that the group may have had at least eight members.

After the confrontation, officers searched the area and found some of the weapons hidden in a creek. The drugs were packed in 102 sacks.

Teams from the Amazonas Military Police (PMAM), Amazonas Civil Police (PC-AM), Integrated Force to Combat Organized Crime (Ficco) and the Antidrug Directorate of Peru's National Police (Dirandro) took part in the operation.

According to Amazonas Public Security Secretary Col. Anézio Brito de Paiva, this was the second-largest drug seizure in the state's history.

“The operation was fully integrated with the security forces, with Ficco and Dirandro from Peru. The investigation was also integrated, and we were successful in carrying out the second-largest seizure in the history of the state of Amazonas. To locate the boat, we used drones to track it and avoid an immediate confrontation with the security forces, relying mainly on police intelligence information,” Paiva said.

Amazon Agency