Four-Hour 'Military Battle' Kills Drug Boss on the Border of Paraguay

06/17/2016 - 10h34

Drug dealer Jorge Rafaat Toumani, 56, was shot to death on Wednesday night, June 15, in the city center of Pedro Juan Caballero, the Paraguayan city where he lived, on the border with Ponta Porã (MS).

Toumani was the chief drug dealer in the region and had been sentenced to 47 years in prison by Brazilian courts in 2014.

He was killed amid a war for the control of drug sales on the border of Brazil and Paraguay.

The Paraguayan police suspect that Toumani's execution was planned by the criminal faction PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital) of São Paulo, which is trying to control drug dealing activities on the border in a partnership with "drug baron" Jarvis Ximenes Pavão.

The police also have another hypothesis: another Brazilian gang, Comando Vermelho, might have participated in the operation.

Civil and federal police officers say that the region where Pedro Juan Caballero acted was the only in Paraguay which had not been dominated by PCC drug dealers.

Toumani had escaped from two previous attacks – the last one occurred three months ago. This time gunmen surrounded the Hummer SUV driven by Toumani and broke the armor with .50 military guns mounted on the back of a Toyota Hilux SW4. He was shot 16 times.

Toumani's bodyguards were following him in other cars behind and reacted, which led to the beginning of a gunfight that allegedly involved 70 people and lasted four hours.

By the end of Thursday afternoon, June 16, the Paraguayan police had arrested eight people involved in the incident.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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	Reprodução/Twitter/ABC Digital
	Drug dealer Jorge Rafaat Toumani, 56, was shot to death on Wednesday night, June 15