Missionary is ‘only link’ to jailed couple in Brazil

Duncan Petroni, 36 of Birkirkara and 29 year-old Silvia Stanica were arrested on 24 June in a joint sting by the Brazilian Federal Police and US Drugs Enforcement Agency (DEA) in the city of Curitiba.

During the sting, Petroni and three Brazilian men were caught red-handed trying to embed almost 13 kilos of pure cocaine into air conditioning unit compressors.

Both Petroni and Stanica are reported to be held in separate wings of the Paraná State Penitentiary, and are still awaiting to be charged. They have since made no contact with Malta, where they have a four year-old son and elderly parents, anxiously awaiting news.

The Brazilian authorities do not allow visitors into the prison as Petroni and Stanica have not yet been charged, a process that takes at least 50 days from their arrest. The missionary – who is Maltese – and lives in Sao Paulo, occasionally calls the prison authorities to learn about Petroni and Stanica, and that is as far as the parents can know about the two, given that they cannot speak Portuguese.

The immense trauma of being locked up in a prison hundreds of miles away from home and the tough conditions both are living in has reportedly led Stanica to miscarry her four month- old baby.

Since her arrest, Stanica has suffered severe psychological trauma and was hospitalised for some days. Stanica has reportedly claimed that she knew absolutely nothing about the drugs, and that she travelled with Petroni to Brazil for a holiday.

In fact her arrest was initially reported to be ‘temporary’ as investigators were not certain if she was involved in the cocaine trafficking ring between Brazil and Malta. However, the fact that she was caught in the same house where the drug was being prepared for export compromised her position in the eyes of Brazilian prosecutors, who are accusing her of complicity.

Maltese police have continued to investigate Petroni’s arrest in Brazil, with a number of arrests and interrogations of suspected financers and accomplices in the cocaine trafficking ring.

According to Superintendent Marcos Coren, chief spokesperson for the Brazilian Federal Police, cocaine trafficking between Brazil and Malta through the same gang that was arrested in Curitiba during ‘Operacao Malta’ had successfully managed to export 15 kilos of cocaine to Malta a few months earlier.

Nine Brazilians, including the suspected mastermind with ties to a well known Mexican cartel was also arrested following the sting.