RIO DE JANEIRO/MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish police have arrested a member of the Brazilian Air Force who carried three bags full of cocaine on a military plane to Seville hours before President Jair Bolsonaro's was scheduled to take a stopover there, police and officials said on Wednesday.
The Brazilian Air Force said in a statement the airman was arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking and the case was also being investigated by the country's military police.
A Spanish police source told Reuters officers discovered 39 kg (85.98 lb) of the drug in three pieces of luggage, which they checked on Tuesday while the plane was waiting to continue its journey to Tokyo.
Various media outlets in Spain and Brazil said the man, a sergeant, was part of an Air Force group supporting Bolsonaro's trip to Japan for this week's G20 meeting, but neither Brazilian nor Spanish officials could immediately confirm that.
In a tweet, Bolsonaro said he had been informed of Tuesday's arrest by the defense minister and ordered "immediate cooperation with Spanish police", but made no reference to his itinerary, which has since been modified.
Bolsonaro's original official itinerary listed Seville as a stopover on Tuesday night, but the latest published version mentioned Lisbon.
(Reporting By Pedro Fonseca in Rio de Janeiro, Andres Gonzalez in Madrid, writing by Andrei Khalip, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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