Brazil Captures Alleged Multi-State Drug Boss ‘Puff’ as Holiday Raids Seize Tons of Narcotics

Overview

• Campinas Civil Police arrested Adriano Pereira Cosmo, 44, known as “Puff,” in Paranapanema on Dec. 23, and he remains in custody pending transfer on preventive warrants from Sergipe and Paraná.
• Police identify him as the leader of a network operating across multiple Brazilian states with links to Colombia, Bolivia and Paraguay, noting prior convictions and an attempt to fake his death using forged documents.
• Coordinated actions recovered 1,456.4 kg of marijuana from a semi-trailer in Campo Grande (MS), 383 kg of skunk in Santa Maria do Pará, and about 200 kg of skunk on BR-316 in Picos (PI), with multiple arrests.
• The Federal Police also detained a 36-year-old at Rio’s Galeão airport after he ingested roughly 80 cocaine capsules before an attempted flight to Paris.
• Investigators describe a logistics scheme that recruited legitimate truckers, concealed drugs within licit cargo and enforced deliveries through debt, with operations and evidence processing continuing across jurisdictions.