BRAZIL'S DRUG LORDS UNVEILED

Three congressmen, 12 state deputies and three mayors were named last
week in a list of more than 800 people allegedly involved in organised
crime and drugs trafficking in Brazil. The list, part of the final
report of an 18-month parliamentary inquiry into the drugs trade,
includes policemen, lawyers, businesspeople and farmers in 17 of the
27 states.

The inquiry was the most probing look yet into drug trafficking in
Brazil, worth more than UKP 15bn.

"It's a massive indictment of all sections of Brazilian society. It
touches almost every part," said David Fleischer, professor of
politics at Brasilia University. "It shows us that organised crime and
money-laundering is a very sophisticated network, much more
sophisticated than we thought." The investigators will hand the
5,000-page report to prosecutors and judges, who are expected to start
legal proceedings against the accused.

The three congressmen named can expect to be expelled from congress if
found guilty. They are Augusto Farias from the state of Alagoas, and
Ildefonco Cordeiro and Jose Aleksandro from Acre, an Amazonian state
that borders cocaine-producing Bolivia and Peru.

Mr Aleksandro replaced Hildebrando Pascoal, who was expelled from
congress last year after the inquiry discovered that he had sliced off
an enemy's arms and legs with a chainsaw. Several dozen people were
jailed as a result of information discovered by the inquiry. At least
20 witnesses were killed.