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OPEN SOURCE INTELLIGENCE (OSINT) Briefing December 7, 2012
Open Source Report Unclassified/For Official Use Only
Latin America: Brazil
Police officers arrested in Rio in corruption case. By Gustavo Nascimento Contingent Security Services, Ltd. Open Source Intelligence Analyst South American Desk. gustavo@contingentsecurity.com
For InterPort Police under the supervision of Joel Vargas, Assistant Director for Law Enforcement Operations joel.vargas@interportpolice.org Cell: 847-875-4990 (USA) Page 1 of 4 Unclassified/For Official Use Only
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Police officers arrested in Rio in corruption case. In Rio de Janeiro, 63 police officers and 11 drug traffickers were arrested for their involvement in bribery, extortion, torture, and kidnapping. The probe known as “Operation Purification” was headed by Brazil’s Federal Police in cooperation with Rio’s police force and Rio’s Intelligence and Security Secretariat, it was initiated in Sep 2011 and is considered the largest operation done in the state of Rio. The officers involved were caught as they were selling drugs and weapons to drug traffickers. Through wiretapping, federal authorities learned that the officers involved were moving half a ton of marijuana to Rio’s favelas (slums) and taking bribes of US$250,000 from drug traffickers. They were also in the process of selling assault rifles to drug dealers at US$21,000 each. The arrests happened in Duque de Caxias, one of the crime-ridden suburbs of Rio, as a result of the arrests; officials fired the battalion commander in charge of overseeing the officers caught in the scandal.
Location Facts: - Duque de Caxias, a city in southeast Brazil in Rio de Janeiro, bordered by Rio de Janeiro City to the south.
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- Second richest city in the state of Rio de Janeiro, its main industries are petrochemicals, metals, plastics, textile and clothing - Population est. 842,890 in 2010 - There are 3 police forces in Brazil. The uniformed military police (Polícia Militar) is responsible for preventive policing and maintaining public order. Their duty is to patrol the streets to prevent and inhibit criminal actions and arrest those who have committed crimes. The Civil Police(Polícia Civil) investigates crimes within the state, such as homicides, robberies, and kidnappings. The Federal Police (Polícia Federal) is responsible for crimes on a national scale such as smuggling, drugs and weapons trafficking in addition to interstate and international criminal activities.
Analysis Police corruption in Rio has always been a problem that adds to the issues of drugs and small arms trafficking. Because of low salaries, police in Rio often turn to criminal activities. Sources indicate that many in the police force in Rio are involved in militia groups and death squads, an ongoing problem particularly for the state’s military police units in charge of patrolling the favelas. Rio’s government officials are struggling to clean up the city in preparation for the World Cup 2014 and the Summer Olympics in 2016. Last year, a Rio judge who was appointed to investigate police corruption and these militias in the city, was assassinated by hooded gunmen, further investigations revealed that the judge’s name was in a list of 12 other officials who were “marked for death.” Rio’s notorious police force needs an overhaul as extensive as the one it has promised to give its gang-controlled slums. “These relationships between police, drug trafficking and organized crime have become a hallmark of these last 30 years in Rio,” said Jorge Barbosa, who works for Observatório de Favelas, an aid organization that operates in the city’s slums. Tackling police corruption, he said, “is extremely important, as important as the fight against drug trafficking.” Page 3 of 4 Unclassified/For Official Use Only
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According to Human Rights Watch report, police in Rio kill one person for every 23 they arrest. Last year an operation known as “Operation Guillotine” carried out by the Federal Police in Rio de Janeiro, issued 32 warrants for the arrest of civil and military police officers for their alleged involvement in narcotics and weapons trafficking, illegal gambling operations and neighborhood mafias, criminal groups formed by police officers, firefighters and prison guards that dominate certain favelas(slums) and poor neighborhoods. R7 Notícias O Globo do Rio de Janeiro
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