Operation Against Militia Arrests 33 in Rio, Eight Police Officers Among Them

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – An operation carried out on Thursday morning, January 30th, by the Rio de Janeiro Prosecutor’s Office, with the support of the Civil and State Police, arrested 33 people suspected of involvement with the militia operating in the Muzema and Rio das Pedras regions, in the western zone of Rio.

Three Civil Police and five State Police (MP) officers were arrested in operation “Os Intocáveis 2”. An arrest warrant against another MP has not yet been served. In total, 45 people have been denounced.

Thursday’s Operation is an unfolding of Operation “Os Intocáveis” (“the Untouchables”), which was launched in January last year, when 13 people were denounced for criminal organization involvement with the same militia.

The involvement of the newly denounced officers was detected from the examination of documents and electronic devices seized at the time. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the accused were led by Dalmir Pereira Barbosa, Paulo Eduardo da Silva Azevedo and Epaminondas Queiroz de Medeiros Júnior (aka ‘Captain Queiroz’).

Since 2014, they are said to have formed a criminal organization marked by the practice of crimes such as land grabbing, illegal construction, sale and rental of property, illegal possession and carrying of firearms, extortion of residents and merchants with the collection of fees for ‘services’ rendered, concealment of goods acquired with the illicit activities through ‘strawmen’, payment of kickbacks to public agents, loan sharking, and use of clandestine water and energy connections in illegally built real estate developments.

According to the indictment, the suspects relied on the assistance of public officials, particularly civil and state police officers, to obtain privileged information that allowed the illegal activities to continue. Police officers would also have assisted in the group’s security.

As for the police officers, who were stationed at the 16th Civil Police Station, 18th and 31st State Police Batallions (BPM), the Rio Prosecutor’s Office (MP-RJ) requested an injunction to suspend them from carrying firearms and exercising their duties, in addition to preventive custody.

Among the detained Civil Police officers is Jorge Luiz Camilo Alves, chief of investigation of the 16th Police Station (Barra da Tijuca). According to investigations, Camilo maintained an active exchange of conversations over his cell phone with Ronnie Lessa, who was charged and arrested last year on suspicion of killing city councilor Marielle Franco. In the dialogues, Lessa refers to Camilo as the “Friend at the 16th”.

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