Price Rises Cause Meat, Even Live Cattle, to Become Target of Organized Crime

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A little over a week ago, 40-year-old security guard Carlos Henrique Menoio de Carvalho was killed during an attempt to assault a truck in Rio de Janeiro. The crime took place at dawn, on Rodovia Presidente Dutra (BR-116), at km 164, in Jardim América just outside Rio.

According to the Federal Highway Police (PRF), the bandits intercepted the truck in an attempt to steal the cargo. There was a confrontation between the criminals and those responsible for escorting the vehicle. The guard was shot and succumbed to his injuries. The criminals fired about 20 shots, one of which hit Menoio’s neck as he ran down Dutra. The bandits’ target: a load of meat.

A survey conducted by the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo points out that in the past month, secretariats of 11 states and the Federal District have registered 23 counts of beef robbery. Some were related to the theft of live cattle, direct from the pasture, but these were isolated cases.

According to the National Confederation of Private Security Workers (CONTRASP), the rise in violence against transporters and slaughterhouses has brought meat companies to an unprecedented situation: trucks have taken to the road accompanied by armed escorts (which further increases the cost of the product).

With the increase in exports to China, the supply of meat in Brazil has fallen and prices have risen. The accumulated high in 2019 was 32.4 percent. A truckload of meat became worth between R$800,000 and R$1 million, which attracts bandits.

João Soares, the president of CONTRASP , says the gangs that have been robbing meat trucks are the same ones that were attacking cash transportation companies. He explains, based on police reports, that the bandits have employed the same techniques and have used heavy weapons. In the case of the death of the guard in Rio, the gang was in two cars, armed with .556 caliber rifles, to steal the cargo valued at R$1 million (US$1 million).

In large urban centers, such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, it is already possible to observe meat trucks being escorted even inside the cities, while delivering their goods to supermarkets, bars and butcher shops.

Last Saturday, employees of a meat packing plant delivered meat boxes to a bar on Rua Pedro Álvares Cabral, on the corner of Marechal Deodoro, in São Vicente (SP). Those responsible for the delivery said the armed escort was set up in December, because of the robberies recorded in recent days. Surprised by the scene, the supermarket owner said it was the first time he saw a meat truck arrive at the establishment escorted by armed men, something that’s common with cigarette loads.

Values

With decades of experience in the security sector, Soares states that escorting meat deliveries on highways is a new demand for the sector. CONTRASP estimates that the robberies of meat trucks has already exceeded the number of robberies in the country, although it still doesn’t have the detailed data of the month of crimes in regard to values.

“Organized crime always takes a step forward. It’s always renewing itself. As the meat has gone up sp much, now the companies are hiring an escort because they don’t want to have any losses. The meatpackers decided to hire an escort. It’s a new modality, unknown even to us, in the private security area,” he says.

The representative of the security guards says the escort services for transporting meat have been hired for longer trips, usually to the interior of the country. On roads without policing, he says, the actions of the bandits tend to be more daring.

Last Sunday, 12 military police from the 10th Battalion of the Federal District located a truck that had been stolen in the state of Goiás and recovered 16 tons of beef. The shipment, transported in a smaller truck, was valued at R$ 300,000. A couple was arrested in the industrial sector of Ceilândia, in the Federal District.

The truck left Tocantins and was destined for Rio de Janeiro. Around 11pm on Saturday, the vehicle disappeared from the radar before passing through Goiânia and was only picked up again by the monitoring company near Brasilia. Security professionals from the carrier went to the 10th Battalion and requested the support of the state police.

Because the meat spent so long unrefrigerated , part of the cargo recovered was no longer fit for consumption and was incinerated. The truck driver was left by bandits in the town of Cristalina, in the interior of Goiás.