Former Major of the Military Police of Mato Grosso do Sul Sergio Roberto de Carvalho, 64, one of the world’s biggest drug traffickers, was deported from Hungary to Belgium under heavy police force yesterday. His deportation was videotaped by European police officers (see below).
Known in Europe as the “Brazilian Escobar,” after Colombian drug trafficker Pablo Escobar, Major Carvalho will be responding to a trial in Belgium for the crime of international drug trafficking. Brazil and the USA also demanded the extradition of the criminal.
The decision to send him to Belgium was made by the Hungarian Minister of Justice, Judit Varga. Belgian authorities accuse the Major of being the possessor of 1.3 tons of cocaine seized on a Turkish plane at the international airport in Fortaleza, Brazil, in August 2021.
Video recorded in Hungary shows Major Carvalho being taken out of his cell. Police officers put on seat belts, bulletproof vests and helmets. Surrounded by at least six agents armed with rifles and machine guns, the “Brazilian Escobar” is taken to an armored van.
The convoy, made up of men from the National Correctional Command and the National Investigative Department of Hungary, escorted by a helicopter, proceeded to Ferenc Liszt International Airport, where the Major was handed over to the Belgian authorities and placed on a plane belonging to the army of that country.
Major Carvalho was arrested in a luxury hotel in Budapest in June 2022. He was wearing shorts, a Tshirt and was quietly drinking coffee when police approached him. The drug dealer was wanted in several European countries and also in the United Arab Emirates.
In Spain, he was accused of being the owner of 1.7 tonnes of cocaine, worth €60 million, seized on a ship in Spain’s Galicia region. Another 20 people accused of involvement in international drug trafficking were also prosecuted.
Faked his own death
The “Brazilian Escobar” was even arrested in Spain under the false name Paul Wouter, but paid bail of 200,000 euros. When he learned that the local state department was seeking a sentence of 13 years and six months in prison, the drug trafficker launched a daring coup.
Sergio Roberto de Carvalho at a custody hearing in Hungary
Image: reproduction
He faked his own death. According to the Spanish police, the renowned doctor Pedro Martin Martos from Malaga has signed his death certificate. The document accessed by the report said the death occurred at 10:50 a.m. on August 20, 2020.
The certificate also mentions that the last person to see the Major alive was his alleged friend, identified as Francisco Jesus Pascual Montero. There is also information that the body of the forger Paul Wouter is said to have been cremated.
A court in Spain found the death certificate to be true and therefore dropped the case against the “Brazilian Escobar” for international drug trafficking. The scam was uncovered by the Brazilian Federal Police. Now the Spanish judiciary has decided to reopen the case.
first arrest
Major Carvalho was first arrested in Guarujá, Baixada Santista. It was November 15, 1997, the holiday of the proclamation of the republic. He was staying in a hotel and having breakfast in silence when he was surprised by federal agent Luiz Antonio da Cruz Pinelli.
Here in Brazil, the “Brazilian Escobar” was sentenced to 15 years and three months in 2019 for using “oranges” in shell companies to move “R$60 million” between 2007 and 2008.
The former military police officer was also sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2008 for drug trafficking. The criminal career of the “Brazilian Escobar” began in the 1980s when he was investigated and charged with smuggling.
The criminal was last seen in Brazil in 2018. Federal police investigations reveal that he fled to Lisbon, Portugal, with forged papers. An international arrest warrant was issued against him.
According to the PF, Major Carvalho’s gang attempted to export nearly 50 tons of cocaine worth R$2.25 billion to Europe via Brazilian ports. In Brazil, the band’s favorite ports were Paranaguá, in Paraná and in Europe Antwerp (Belgium) and Rotterdam (Netherlands).