Cocaine Lord Exported 5 Tons Monthly, Used Plastic Surgery To Hide For 30 Years: Luiz Carlos Da Rocha Arrested

Luiz Carlos da Rocha was captured by authorities after 30 years, with the drug lord who went by the nickname “White Head” having used plastic surgeries to conceal his identity as Rocha moved upwards of five tons of cocaine per month through Brazil and onto the U.S. and Europe. However, the plastic surgeries didn’t stop the Brazilian Federal Police from capturing Rocha on Saturday, July 1. The various photos of Rocha that have emerged, displaying Luiz in Brazil within unspecified locations, also display him with a slightly different appearance in each photo.

“White Head” was a major drug lord who was captured in the state of Mato Grosso, located in west-central Brazil. The area in which Luiz was captured in Mato Grosso is primarily comprised of wetlands, Amazon rainforest, and savanna plains. According to the Salt Lake Tribune, authorities were able to capture quite a bit of Rocha’s assets as well in the arrest.

Approximately $10 million worth of items such as those seen in photos below, like cash and jewelry – along with planes, cars and other properties – were seized in the arrest.

According to authorities, after Rocha’s arrest on Saturday, he received a sentence of more than 50 years in prison.

The Brazilian courts charged Rocha with both international drug trafficking and money laundering in the huge arrest of the major drug kingpin. Police in Brazil claim that the cartel run by Rocha created cocaine in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia.

The cocaine created in those South American locations was then exported north to the U.S. The drugs were also transported to Europe, with both locations receiving the cocaine via Brazil and Paraguay. According to police, Rocha brought in approximately five tons of cocaine per month in Brazil alone.

According to the New York Post, it took 150 agents in order to conduct 24 raids to seize the assets of Rocha, who is worth about $100 million.

Although Rocha changed his name to Vitor Luiz de Moraes and underwent plastic surgery operations to attempt to conceal his identity, investigators were able to pick out Rocha using photographic evidence that compared his old face with his new one and determined that Vitor and Luiz were indeed the same man, as reported by the Daily Mail.

[Featured Image by Brazilian Federal Police/AP Images]