the dispatcher of the almost 2.7 tons of marijuana will be extradited from Brazil

The Brazilian Justice ordered the extradition of Marcelo Machado, accused of being the supplier and in charge of conditioning the almost 2.7 tons of marijuana camouflaged in a hijacked truck in Misiones and bound for Córdoba.

The drug cause

The owner of the Iveco with a trailer used as a means to carry out drug trafficking had been dismissed in 2020 by the federal judge of Bell Ville, Sergio Pinto. But, in 2022, the Federal Court of Appeals reversed the ruling and ordered to investigate whether he had knowledge of the shipment for which the driver was convicted.

In the “mother” case, the Federal Oral Court No. 2 sentenced the driver Alberto Spioussas (for drug trafficking); Lucas Figuera (participant in drug trafficking; triple sentenced in other cases); Omar Alberto “Chapi” Ibarra (for possession for sale), and former employee of the Municipality of Bell Ville Horacio Germán “Rundun” Gallardo (for possession for sale).

However, the bricklayer Miguel Ángel Maximiliano “Ojudo” Bustamante (another alleged seller) and Julio Alejandro Sánchez (linked to Figuera) were dismissed. Paredes was also dismissed, but in the complementary case.

The investigation yielded key information and the judge commissioned members of the Federal Police in Oberá, Misiones, to search the Iveco that Spioussas was driving.

The information specified that on September 4, 2017, 13 days before the seizure of the large amount of drugs, the truck was “stopped” in Oberá waiting for it to be loaded with the narcotic that would be transported to Río Cuarto. The investigation pointed out that the person who loaded the drug was Marcelo Machado, accused of being the supplier and in charge of packaging the drug. However, he was not tried for being a fugitive.

arrest and extradition

Magistrate Pinto asked Interpol for the international capture of Machado. Finally after four years, Interpol Brazil arrested him on June 2, 2022 in the city of Tibaú Do Sul, a small coastal municipality belonging to the state of Rio Grande do Norte.

The judge requested the extradition to be tried in Argentina, which finally materialized a few days ago, when the Brazilian Justice ordered the measure. In this way, he will be transferred to the Villa María prison. He will then testify in the Bell Ville Federal Court.