MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Authorities seize backpack with explosives on Uruguay-Brazil border

Sunday's event came a week after the murder of a known drug trafficker in the area

A backpack containing an explosive device was picked up by authorities on the line between the cities of Rivera in Uruguay and Santana do Livramento in Brazil, it was reported Sunday.

Witnesses said two suspects dropped the item when they spotted a police car approaching. One of them ran to the Brazilian side and the other to the Uruguayan one. They were eventually arrested. The one in Santana do Livramento claimed he had found the device and intended to sell it as iron.

The site of the drop was fenced off while the Explosives Brigade was summoned. The experts placed the item in a box with sand and took it to a laboratory for further testing.

According to local media Tribuna Repleta, the contents of the backpack amounted to a grenade. Montevideo Portal also said the suspects fired shots at the police before dropping the backpack and running away.

These events were recorded just one week after the murder of Rodrigo “Loly” Fontana, who was reportedly an associate of famous drug trafficker Sebastián Marset and the First Uruguayan Cartel (PCU). Fontana took six shots last Sunday while having lunch with his family at a restaurant on the Brazilian side of town. He had been involved in threats against drug prosecutor Mónica Ferrero and the Molotov bomb attack on the Anti-Drug Squad in May 2020.

Fontana had been arrested in March 2021 and extradited from Brazil in September 2022. He was charged with repeated drug import and export offenses and for domestic and international arms trafficking.