On 13 July, a Spanish citizen identified by Colombian authorities as Carlos Barbería Hernando was arrested at Bogotá’s El Dorado international airport while attempting to board a flight to Barcelona. He was wearing a commercial pilot’s uniform, but his behaviour and inconsistencies in the attire drew the attention of police. A subsequent body scan and search revealed six tightly wrapped packages of cocaine, weighing approximately 10 kilogrammes, strapped to his torso under the uniform with adhesive tape and a belt. Colombian police said the man had completed a pilot training course but held no valid licence to fly, and the drugs were destined for distribution across Europe.

Days later, on 15 July, a separate aviation-related incident unfolded in the Brazilian state of Goiás. A pilot, Henrique Donizeti Ferri, made a forced landing in a rural area of Itarumã after reporting a mechanical failure. The single-engine aircraft was carrying 343 kg of cocaine, according to the Brazilian military police. Ferri hid the drugs in nearby forest, set fire to the plane to destroy evidence, and fled. He was arrested the following morning after police intercepted his father, wife, and a friend who had travelled from São Paulo state to rescue him, using a pre-arranged signal of flashing car headlights. Ferri later told investigators he had been contracted for three drug flights, earning R$70,000 per trip, with the cocaine loaded near the Bolivian border and destined for Minas Gerais.

These cases are not isolated. On 9 July, Argentine gendarmerie detained two Bolivian pilots in Salta after a Cessna 210 made an unauthorised landing and a suspicious test flight. No narcotics were found on the aircraft, but the men had entered Argentina illegally, and one had a prior 20-year drug trafficking conviction in Paraguay. In Spain, prosecutors continue to investigate a network linked to the country’s largest-ever cocaine seizure — 13 tonnes found in a banana container in Algeciras in 2024 — which has since implicated a former head of the national anti-money laundering unit, a distant relative of the Spanish royal family, and a web of offshore companies and cryptocurrency firms.

Security analysts in Latin America note that the incidents illustrate the persistent exploitation of general aviation and identity deception by trafficking organisations. The Bogotá arrest has prompted questions about how the suspect obtained a credible pilot’s uniform and whether screening procedures for crew members are being tested. Brazilian federal police are investigating the logistics chain behind the Goiás flight, while Spanish judicial authorities continue to trace the financial flows from the Algeciras seizure. All cases remain under active investigation, with no final judicial determinations reached.