Rio de Janeiro Police Arrest Six Suspected of Having Militia Ties

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Yesterday, Wednesday, July 3rd, civil police officers carried out seven arrest and ten search and seizure warrants in an operation against suspected members of a militia operating in Rio de Janeiro. According to the Civil Police, by 8:45 AM, six people had already been arrested in the raid.

The operation targets the use of companies to launder money from the Liga da Justiça criminal organization, which, according to the police, is headed by Wellington da Silva Braga, aka Ecko.

The companies operate in sand and gravel exploration in the Baixada Fluminense area outside the city of Rio de Janeiro and generated revenues of R$41 million (US$10.2 million) between 2012 and 2017, according to the Civil Police.

In addition to using the business to launder money, the group is suspected of being linked to homicides committed with the intent of taking over competing companies. One company, for instance, was taken over by the militia after the murder of its owner, Alexsander de Castro Santos, in June 2014.

According to the State Public Prosecutor’s Office, the group’s mining operations are used in an attempt to legitimize the money that is criminally obtained in the communities controlled by the group, through extortion of residents and local businesses and the exploitation of alternative transportation such as vans.