UPDATE 1-Brazil cocaine kingpin nabbed in Mozambique as gang expands

(Adds details from Maputo)
By Gabriel Stargardter and Manuel Mucari
RIO DE JANEIRO/MAPUTO, April 14 (Reuters) - One of Brazil's
top cocaine traffickers has been arrested in Mozambique,
officials in both countries said, underlining the growing global
footprint of the First Capital Command (PCC) gang, Brazil's most
powerful criminal organization.
Gilberto Aparecido dos Santos, aka "Fuminho," had been on
the run for more than 20 years until his capture in Maputo on
Monday, and was one of Brazil's "most-wanted" fugitives,
Brazil's federal police said in a statement.
"The prisoner was considered the largest supplier of cocaine
to a gang operating throughout Brazil, as well as being
responsible for sending tonnes of the drug to several
countries," the statement said.
Originally formed as a prison gang in Sao Paulo, the PCC has
spread across Brazil and is increasingly moving cocaine
overseas, especially to Europe and Africa.
In March, Reuters reported that Brazil has become one of the
top suppliers of cocaine to Europe, transforming the country's
role in the trans-Atlantic drug trade. Leonardo Simbine, a spokesman for Mozambique's Criminal
Investigations Services, told Reuters that local police had been
tipped off by Interpol that dos Santos had entered the country
in mid-March.
"We did our investigations and found him at a luxury hotel
in Maputo. We arrested him with two accomplices, two Nigerian
citizens," Simbine said.
On his way to the maximum security prison where he is now
being held, dos Santos refused to answer questions from the
press. "Talk to my lawyer," he said.
Brazil has 40 days to submit an extradition request, Simbine
said, adding that dos Santos is being held on charges of drug
possession and using a false passport.
In its statement, Brazil's federal police said the operation
to catch dos Santos also involved the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration, the U.S. Department of Justice and the
Mozambique police.
The Brazilian federal police also accused dos Santos of
allegedly financing a rescue plan for PCC boss Marcos Willians
Camacho, or "Marcola," who is in a federal jail in Brasilia. The
alleged plan prompted Brazilian authorities to heighten security
at the jail in February, the statement said.
Local media have reported that dos Santos was Camacho's
"right-hand man."

(Writing by Gabriel Stargardter
Editing by Alistair Bell and Richard Chang)