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After Two-Year Manhunt, Brian Bilbao Arrested in Buenos Aires During Air-Smuggling Sting

The arrest followed an overnight interdiction of a cocaine-laden light aircraft near Pergamino in a case targeting a Rosario-based network.

Overview

  • Gendarmería Nacional tracked a small plane that landed around 3 a.m. near Pergamino and launched a pursuit that led to detentions connected to the operation.
  • Bilbao was intercepted in a pickup on the outskirts of Exaltación de la Cruz, and security forces say he was part of a ground team awaiting the shipment rather than a passenger on the aircraft.
  • Prosecutors Matías Scilabra and Diego Iglesias of PROCUNAR oversaw the action, which forms part of the federal investigation known as Cosecha Blanca.
  • Investigators link the group to flights ferrying cocaine from Bolivia using low altitude and clandestine strips in Santa Fe and Buenos Aires, with this flight carrying more than 400 kilos.
  • The capture advances a phased crackdown that earlier netted pilot Pablo Raynaud in July and Waldo Bilbao weeks later in Rosario, after authorities had posted a reward for Brian Bilbao.