From: In SightCrime
Written by Loren Riesenfeld
Paraguay has only one judge in charge of handling contraband cases, a startling admission in a country where smuggled contraband goods like sugar and cigarettes are endemic, highlighting the judicial system’s inability to successfully prosecute this type of crime.
Humberto Otazu, the only judge designated by the Supreme Court as competent enough to handle contraband cases, told Paraguayan news outlet ABC Color that so far, no contraband smuggling cases have reached the stage of oral trials. Major smuggling cases involving large companies — like 1,400 tons of sugar seized in June 2014 — are still underway in the judicial system, but minor cases of street vendors selling contraband goods are rarely ever prosecuted, the judge said.
