Woofun AI reports that a sophisticated international drug cartel was dismantled by the Brazilian Federal Police, exposing a network that utilized crypto-enabled illicit money brokers to launder proceeds from massive cocaine trafficking operations.

The operation, announced on July 23, resulted in the arrest of nine individuals and the execution of 13 pretrial detention warrants alongside 44 search-and-seizure warrants. These law enforcement actions were coordinated across four key states: São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Santa Catarina, and Espírito Santo.

Per Woofun AI, the suspects are charged with participation in a transnational criminal organization, international drug trafficking, and money laundering involving billions of reals. The cartel allegedly concealed assets through shell companies, luxury goods, real estate, and digital currency channels, moving an estimated 6.5 metric tons of cocaine.

This bust follows the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioning six Ethereum addresses in May. Those addresses were tied to a Sinaloa Cartel-linked money laundering network that converted drug proceeds into cryptocurrency.