Army and Prime Minister carry out an operation in Guarulhos to locate machine guns stolen from the barracks

Army and Prime Minister carry out an operation in Guarulhos to locate machine guns stolen from the barracks


The action takes place in a property in Guarulhos, where the weapons were allegedly hidden




Teams of the Army and the Military Police (PM) carried out a joint operation this Tuesday morning, the 31st, to locate four machine guns stolen in September from the Arsenal de Guerra, in Barueri (SP). The action takes place in Guarulhos, in the Greater Sao Paulo region. Another 17 have already been recovered, in Rio de Janeiro and São Roque, cities in the hinterland of São Paulo.

The search and seizure warrants concern residences where weapons, all anti-aircraft and .50 caliber, may be kept. To date, none of these weapons have been found, nor have the suspects been arrested.

According to São Paulo’s secretary of public security, Guilherme Derrite, the weapons were destined for the criminal factions Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV).

The machine guns were stolen between 5 and 8 September. The investigations revealed that military personnel had intentionally turned off the lights in the Army War Arsenal to commit the crime, according to investigators. National newspaperfrom TVGlobo.

With the power outage, the security system stopped working. During the investigations, footprints of soldiers from the barracks were found on some light panels.

Seven soldiers are under investigation in the case and investigators are now evaluating whether the evidence collected so far is sufficient to ask the judges to arrest the suspects. Banking and tax secrecy was requested which could help identify those who traded weapons with organized crime.

How the theft was noticed

The last time the weapons were counted in the armory was on September 6th, and from the 7th onwards it was only checked whether the warehouse door was sealed. More than 30 days later, on October 10, a second lieutenant saw signs of forced entry at the site and noted that the numbered seal had been changed.



Civil police find machine guns stolen from army arsenal

The soldiers responsible for verifying whether the seal was the same as the one affixed on September 6 are under investigation for disciplinary infractions. The experts also found the fingerprints of a corporal, driver of the then director of the war arsenal, Lieutenant Colonel Rivelino Barata de Souza Batista.

The driver was not authorized to circulate on site, but the suspicion is that he took advantage of the free access he had had to the barracks as a trusted man.

Furthermore, the main line of the investigation highlights that he used the director’s official vehicle to take away the machine guns from the barracks without arousing suspicion. Military personnel confirmed to the report that the warden’s car was rarely searched upon arriving or leaving the barracks. The lieutenant colonel is not under investigation in the theft investigation. He has been fired from his position and will be transferred.

Source: Terra

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