The operation being carried out this Tuesday (23) by the task force created by the Civil Police to fight militias in Rio de Janeiro resulted, until early afternoon, in 22 arrests in the west of the capital and in Baixada Fluminense. Agents from the police stations of the General Department of Specialized Police and the Police Station for the Repression of Organized Criminal Actions and Special Inquiries (Draco) took to the streets to arrest criminals and asphyxiate the criminal organization’s sources of income.
Among those captured by Draco police officers is Sérgio Lucindo da Silva Júnior, known as PQD or Pitoco. According to the Secretariat of State for the Civil Police, Silva is one of the leaders of the militia in the communities of Malvina, Cabeça de Porco and Invasão, in Taquara, in Jacarepaguá, in the west zone. Investigations indicated that Silva is subordinate to two imprisoned militiamen who are allied to the criminal organization of Luís Antônio da Silva Braga, called Zinho.
Agents of the Interstate Police Station – Captures Division (DC-Polinter) arrested a former military policeman in Inhoaíba, Campo Grande, also in the west zone. According to the secretariat, he was charging irregular security fees for the militia. The ex-policeman had a warrant for his arrest for extortion. In the same region, police officers from the Police Station for the Protection of the Environment closed a chemical plant.
Two militia members were arrested by members of the Narcotics Repression Police, in the municipality of Duque de Caxias, in the Baixada Fluminense region. Two militiamen were also arrested by agents of the Police Department for the Defense of Delegated Services, and illegal gas sales establishments and clandestine internet providers were banned. Five people selling counterfeit products exploited by the militia were arrested in Gardênia Azul, in the west side, by police officers from the Police Station for the Repression of Crimes against Intangible Property.
According to the Secretary of State for the Civil Police, among the crimes investigated are exploitation of illegal activities controlled by the militia, irregular collection of security and housing fees, installations of clandestine cable TV and internet centers, storage and commerce irregularity of gas and water cylinders.
The operation also curbed irregularities such as the exploitation and construction of illegal properties, sandy areas and other environmental crimes, sale of counterfeit products, smuggling, embezzlement, illegal alternative transport and the exploitation and use of commercial establishments for money laundering.
