Time for Improved Fuel Traceability in Brazil?

Brazil’s federal police recently pulled back the curtain on a criminal web that had infiltrated the country’s fuel distribution chains. While organised crime in Brazil has been expanding, for some time now, from drug and arms trafficking into biofuel and fossil fuels, the government is yet to take the lead on implementing a nationwide modern fuel traceability system.

In August, Brazilian news organization O Globo reported that the government had launched a major operation to dismantle a sophisticated criminal scheme that was laundering fuel money through more than 1,000 petrol stations. It was reported that these stations had handled approximately $9.5 billion in illicit sales over the last four years.

Operation ‘Carbono Oculto’ (Hidden Carbon) is considered by the Brazilian government to be the largest operation ever carried out against organised crime in the country. It is targeting various parts of the fuel distribution chain, as well as financial entities that are ostensibly legal but that are actually concealing the profits made from criminal groups.