The São Paulo Connection: How a Brazilian Gang is Expanding Its Cocaine Trade into Australia
A powerful Brazilian crime syndicate, the First Capital Command (PCC), has significantly extended its influence beyond Latin America, now making inroads into Australia’s lucrative drug market.
In September 2020, Australian authorities intercepted a staggering 552kg of cocaine hidden in 2,000 boxes of frozen banana pulp arriving at Sydney’s port from Brazil. Two years later, in an incident highlighting the increasing sophistication of drug trafficking methods, a diver was found dead near the port of Newcastle, alongside 52kg of cocaine. Investigators determined he was a Brazilian national attempting to retrieve narcotics from the hull of a cargo ship.
Both cases were linked to the PCC, a criminal organization that originated in a São Paulo prison over 30 years ago. Initially a prison gang, the PCC has evolved into one of Brazil’s most dominant criminal enterprises, expanding its reach across Latin America and beyond. The group now controls critical drug routes to Europe, operates illegal gold mines, and has steadily grown its influence in Australia.
According to a recent report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the PCC has moved from simply supplying Australian traffickers to directly managing operations within the country. The report’s author, Lt Col Rodrigo Duton, a senior Brazilian police officer, emphasized the need for global law enforcement to adapt. “If organized crime knows no borders, we must follow the same path,” he stated.
Duton noted that Australia’s drug market is highly attractive to transnational criminal groups due to its profitability and relative stability. The 2020 banana pulp seizure marked the first confirmed PCC activity in the country, but he believes their operations likely began earlier.
The PCC was established in 1993 in response to a brutal prison massacre in which Brazilian police killed 111 inmates at the Carandiru penitentiary. Over the years, the gang expanded its influence beyond prison walls, dominating Brazil’s retail drug trade before moving into international cocaine exports. By securing direct access to drug producers in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, the PCC established itself as a key player in the global narcotics trade.
Journalist and researcher Bruno Paes Manso from the University of São Paulo’s Centre for the Study of Violence noted that while Europe remains the PCC’s primary market, the organization is also making strategic expansions into Africa and Asia. “They are extremely intelligent operators. While they use violence when necessary, they focus on building business partnerships rather than controlling foreign territories,” he explained.
Australia’s emergence as a key market for the PCC is largely due to the staggering profits involved. A kilogram of cocaine valued at approximately $3,000 in Colombia can fetch $8,000 in Brazil, $37,000 to $50,000 in Europe, and an astonishing $160,000 to $200,000 in Australia and New Zealand. To maximize their reach, the PCC has diversified its smuggling methods, using cargo containers—particularly those transporting frozen goods to avoid detection—and deploying divers to attach drug-laden waterproof packages to ship hulls.
The dead diver in the 2022 Newcastle incident was later identified as Bruno Borges Martins, an underwater repair specialist from Santos, Brazil—home to Latin America’s largest port and a major PCC trafficking hub. Authorities are still searching for his accomplice, Jhoni Fernandes Da Silva. Meanwhile, Australian businessman James Blake Blee, a superyacht operator from Queensland, was charged with facilitating the duo’s illegal entry and drug importation. He pleaded guilty and was convicted in November 2023.
While Duton believes the PCC’s Australian operations are still in their early stages, he warns that its presence could expand rapidly without decisive intervention. He advocates for closer collaboration between Brazilian and Australian law enforcement, stricter border security, and an intensified crackdown on money laundering networks.
Paes Manso, however, argues that the only effective long-term solution is drug regulation. “Prohibition and mass incarceration have failed. The state will never win this battle as long as demand for drugs persists,” he concluded.
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