The Specialized Action Group to Combat Organized Crime of the Public Ministry of the State of Rio de Janeiro (Gaeco), with the support of the Security and Intelligence Coordination, carried out, this Tuesday (12), four search and seizure warrants against investigated for criminal organization, cartel and bid fraud, related to the permission to operate canteens in prisons and custodial houses in the state. The Operation Snack Time (Snack Hour, in English) arises from a criminal investigative procedure (PIC), which investigates the activities of the so-called cantina mafia. According to Gaeco, the criminal organization caused losses of more than R$25 million to the state.
The investigations were based on a report from the Undersecretariat of Intelligence for the Penitentiary System (Sispen). The warrants were obtained from the 1st Criminal Court Specialized in Criminal Organizations and were served in the neighborhoods of Copacabana, Barra da Tijuca, Sepetiba, Piedade and Bangu. Among the targets are two lawyers.
Prosecutors are investigating a criminal scheme that would involve at least 30 companies and agents from the State Secretariat for Penitentiary Administration (Seap), directly or indirectly linked to the scheme.
According to the MPRJ, the fraudulent scheme has existed since 2019 and was structured within Seap to maintain a cartel that controls the canteen service. After the secretariat’s decision to end the service, the organization started using arrested people to file lawsuits against the state. A group of lawyers filed lawsuits on behalf of the prisoners to mislead the Judiciary, as if they were pleading for the need to reopen the canteens.
In testimony, the prisoners stated that they were unaware of the object of the action when they signed the powers of attorney. According to prosecutors, the lawyers aimed to ensure the continuity of a practice that harms both the state and inmates of the prison system, due to the high prices of the products sold.
In a note, Seap reported that, in recent years, the Undersecretariat of Intelligence monitored the activity of companies that had been operating the canteen service in the Rio de Janeiro prison system for decades in a precarious manner and without bidding, and sent a report to the Public Ministry with all the information collected during this period. It was based on this report that Gaeco opened the investigation to determine who was responsible for the allegations.
The text also says that, in recent years, Seap has worked tirelessly to regularize canteens and intensify control over the use of their spaces. “Furthermore, the secretariat twice attempted to bid for the service, a measure that directly attacked the interests of the companies involved, which caused them to seek to judicialize the process, managing to overturn the bids on both occasions.”
Finally, in July this year, based on guidance from the National Council for Criminal Policies (CNPC), Seap determined the definitive closure of canteen activities.
