Nearly 40kg of cocaine found on plane carrying Brazil president’s team to G20 summit

An air force officer was arrested while the plane made a stop over in Seville on the way to the G20 summit in Osaka.

A massive stash of cocaine has been found on a plane carrying the team of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro as they travelled to the G20 summit.

An air force sergeant accused of smuggling the drug was arrested in Seville, Spain, when the plane to Osaka, Japan made a stop over, authorities have said.

The head of Brazil’s security cabinet General Augusto Heleno said it is ‘bad luck’ the drug bust occurred at such an inopportune moment.

The sergeant was arrested at Seville airport after 39 kg of cocaine were discovered.

Brazil’s air force says the sergeant worked as cabin crew on a support aircraft and at no point was on the presidential plane.

The government says it is cooperating with Spanish investigators and has opened its own probe.

Reacting to the arrest on Tuesday on Twitter, Mr Bolsonaro said: ‘I immediately ordered the defence minister to cooperate with Spanish police to establish the facts and cooperate with every stage of the investigation, and to launch an investigation by the military police.

‘There are around 300,000 men and women in the armed forces who are trained to uphold the highest principles of ethics and morality.

‘If the airman is found to have committed a crime, he will be tried and convicted according to the law.’