President Jair Bolsonaro described the trafficking of cocaine by a sergeant on a Brazilian Air Force plane bound for the G-20 summit in Japan as “unacceptable” and denied it had any connection to his team.
“I demanded immediate and severe punishment for the person responsible for the narcotic substance found in the military plane,” Bolsonaro wrote on social media Wednesday. “We won’t tolerate such disrespect to our country!”
Apesar de não ter relação com minha equipe, o episódio de ontem, ocorrido na Espanha, é inaceitável. Exigi investigação imediata e punição severa ao responsável pelo material entorpecente encontrado no avião da FAB. Não toleraremos tamanho desrespeito ao nosso país!
— Jair M. Bolsonaro (@jairbolsonaro) June 26, 2019
During a layover in Seville, Spanish police discovered 39 kilograms of cocaine in the luggage of a crew member in Bolsonaro’s advance party to the summit that will take place in Osaka, according to local press reports. The incident is an embarrassment to Bolsonaro, who campaigned on a law and order platform, particularly the fight against drug trafficking gangs, and frequently lauds the moral principles of the military.
Brazil has become an important way-station for cocaine produced in the Andes and ultimately bound for consumers in Europe.
