RECIFE, 17 June 2020:
The Militarised Police of the Brazilian state of Goiás seized 300kg of marijuana transported in two coffins by a young man – who claimed he was transporting the coffins of coronovirus victims, authorities said yesterday.
According the police statement, marijuana was found inside two coffins that were sealed and were being moved in a funeral service car driven by a 22-year-old man.
The vehicle was boarded during a roadblock on June 8 on one of the federal highways. Due to the nervousness of the driver, who claimed to be ferrying two deceased by Covid-19, the agents decided to open the coffins which were sealed and wrapped with protective plastic.
The marijuana found inside the coffins had left the city of Ponta Porá, in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, which borders Paraguay, and was destined for Goiania, the capital of Goiás.
The driver of the vehicle, whose identity was detained, while the confiscated marijuana was sent to a police station in the municipality of Jataí, where the police checkpoint was carried out.
This arrest occurs as Brazil begins a gradual reopening of activities that were suspended by quarantines and measures of compulsory social distancing, despite the increase in number of infections and deaths.
Brazil, the second country most affected in the world by the novel coronavirus, reached 45,241 deaths and 923,189 confirmed cases yesterday, according to data from the Ministry of Health confirming the pandemic is still progressing at an accelerated rate.
– EFE