Córdoba-Misiones-Brazil. The plot involving the triangulation of trucks loaded with thousands of tons of soybeans smuggled on barges to the neighboring country revealed a criminal structure that would have had a businessman from Córdoba and his daughter at the top.
The investigation by the federal prosecutor of Bell Ville, María Virginia Miguel Carmona, led to the accusations and subsequent arrests of Luis Alberto Zago (doubly aggravated smuggling, active bribery – kickbacks – and concealment of currency counterfeiting), his daughter Sabrina Gisel Zago ( doubly aggravated smuggling) and Oscar Ramón Chamorro, subordinate of the first and extremely trusted close friend (doubly aggravated smuggling and active bribery).
An email as a kick
Through the digital complaint made on the Gendarmerie website, a man pointed directly against Zago (p) and another suspect, as responsible for the smuggling of cereals and oilseeds through Chaco and Misiones.
The very precise information he provided mentioned that the grains were transported to the town of El Soberbio (Misiones) and from there to the border with Brazil. To give truth to his statements, he provided the domain names of the trucks that would have been used in the maneuvers.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office of Resistencia (Chaco) opened an investigation that led to Zago (p), his daughter and Chamorro (from the town of Camilo Aldao and Marcos Juárez, respectively), who together with other unidentified people would have consummated the smuggling.
The investigators were able to establish that the grains were transported in trucks with “LAZ” inscriptions, which they quickly associated with the companies Lupaza SA or Laraza SA, owned by Camilo Aldao, of which Zago (p) appeared as the majority partner and director. manager.
Zago was seen on numerous occasions in the companies, driving a Dodge RAM registered in his name. The president of the Agricultural and Forestry Cooperative of El Paraíso (Misiones) also reported having detected that third parties had fraudulently used the unique tax identification code (Cuit) of the cooperative to charge Afip for the transportation of grains from different parts of the country to the town of San Pedro (Misiones), and generated various consignment letters that were later cancelled.
A consignment note appeared in the name of Lupaza, which was transporting soybeans from the town of General Villegas (Buenos Aires) to San Pedro. Apparently, this would be one of the many documents that the group used to provide documentary coverage for the merchandise they needed to transport to the border with Brazil.
The gendarmes detected a vehicle registered in the name of Zago’s daughter in Lupaza and Laraza. In addition, they discovered that she was the owner of 12 more vehicles and that three of the domains coincided with those indicated in the original complaint.
Through the wiretapping, the investigators detected that the young woman would have had an active participation in the management of the companies, since she was in charge of billing and the coordinator of corporate financial movements. And because of her role, according to prosecutor Carmona, she would have had extensive knowledge of the movements and maneuvers of smuggling.
“Sweep”, routes and bribes to the Police?
To ensure that the shipment of the merchandise reached its destination, the defendants would have implemented several strategies, from “sweeping” routes (previous transit through areas of interest, to warn of possible road checkpoints in order to avoid them) or plainly the alleged payment of bribes to police or security forces or National Highway officials and the Misiones tax agency.
As a person of extreme trust in Zago, Chamorro would have been in charge of coordinating the movement and transit of the trucks along the routes, so he would have had full contact with the drivers. Thus, the researchers were able to draw a “road map” of the different points and towns in Chaco, including Charata, where the grains were loaded.
Trucks from Lupaza and Laraza were seen while traveling along national route 14 to the town of San Vicente (Misiones), and from there, along route 13, to El Soberbio. The investigators were able to observe that several Zago trucks were not subjected to any control at the 14th post.
Then they took Route 2, known as “coastal route 2,” and after that they entered a dirt road to an area where there are large warehouses. There they regrouped, unloaded and conditioned the grain to smuggle it to Brazil.
The truck drivers were located in areas surrounding the banks of the Uruguay River, in El Soberbio. The aerial shots allowed us to observe the crossing of barges with burlap bags that coincided with those seized in the raids. Chamorro, as responsible for coordinating the movements, would have escorted the vehicles in his Toyota Hilux, in the company of Zago himself.
Even, not only in one of the wiretaps of Chamorro and Zago (p) was the reference to the illegal entry of the merchandise into Brazil evident, but the former was seen near a truck belonging to the latter’s companies in a silo that this man handled. in the town of Bernardo de Irigoyen (Misiones).
On the property, Zago’s RAM (p) and another truck with the inscription “LAZ” were also seen. Zago and Chamorro’s vehicles, and other Lupaza trucks, were geolocated in Misiones in another cereal collection and conditioning location. Another son of Zago would have intervened in the maneuvers in Misiones, although for now he has not been charged.
Cereals for millions of pesos
The raids carried out in 2022 yielded an important amount of evidence for the investigation carried out by prosecutor Carmona. In San Vicente (Misiones), a Lupaza truck (in the name of Sabrina Zago) was seized. It had 33,600 kilos of broken soybeans. However, it was found that it did not correspond to reality, since it must have been bulk soybeans.
In a cabin that Chamorro occupied in the same town, his Hilux, $120,000, a bill counter, a long 32 caliber revolver (filed numbering) and US$900 were kidnapped. In a hotel where Zago and his family usually stayed. unindicted son, in San Vicente, they kidnapped two cell phones, the RAM key, money and documentation.
In the Zago silo, documentation related to Lupaza was seized. In a warehouse in El Soberbio, 183 bags (for 59,150 kilos of soybeans) were found, valued at that time at $4 million. In another warehouse, they located 2,966 bags with 148,300 kilos of soybeans, valued at about $10.1 million. Documentation was seized at Zago’s house in Camilo Aldao, and on the property located in front (where the trucks of his companies were kept) a large amount of information was found, apparently false $7,800, PCs and 56 cell phones. Almost twenty vehicles were also seized.
At Chamorro’s home, in Marcos Juárez, a 16.70 caliber shotgun was seized and at Sabrina Zago’s house they found documentation and national and foreign money, two vehicles, one belonging to Lupaza and a motorcycle belonging to Zago (p).
In the office of the El Tocón H y H Agropecuaria group, in Charata (Chaco), documentation and money were seized; at the Balanza H y H firm (Concepción del Bermejo, Chaco), consignment letters were seized; In Dos de Mayo (Misiones), they seized tractors and a truck (in which 95,400 kilos of broken soybeans were transported from San Luis to Misiones, with Lupaza logistics).
Last Thursday, the judge ordered four raids, three in Camilo Aldao and the remaining in Marcos Suárez. Zago Sr., his daughter and Chamorro were arrested and investigated (they are housed in the Villa María prison).
Five cell phones were seized, three pendrivesfour tickets of deposit, 10 electronic consignment letters from one of the companies investigated, eight tickets fuel load, an agenda, 20 tickets of cereal unloading, a pay check and documentation.
