Public Ministry of Rio Grande do Norte (MPRN), Federal Police, Federal Highway Police, Military Police, State Department of Penitentiary Administration and National Force launched Operation Sentinel this Wednesday (22). It is to fight the criminal organization responsible for criminal attacks that started at dawn on the 14th in several municipalities in the state.
According to the MPRN, 13 arrest warrants and 26 search and seizure warrants are served in Natal, Parnamirim, São Gonçalo do Amarante, Macaíba, Canguaretama, Bom Jesus, Santo Antônio, Caiçara do Norte, Acari and Macau.
At least two men have already been arrested in flagrante delicto during the operation, out of a total of 18 arrests decreed. Five of the targets were not located, which is why they are already considered fugitives from justice. The names of those arrested have not yet been released.
woman is arrested
“All the warrants were directed at people suspected of belonging to the RN Crime Syndicate (SDC), a criminal organization linked to the attacks on Potiguar society in the last week. Among the 13 people arrested, one is a woman. Within the faction they are known as ‘brothers-in-law’ – women of faction members who end up joining the criminal organization,” said the state Public Prosecutor’s Office in a statement.
The actions of the police forces also resulted in the apprehension of weapons, drugs, cell phones, documents and cash.
According to the investigators, most of the prisoners “already have convictions for involvement in a criminal organization, drug trafficking, robberies and homicides, with some of them serving sentences in a semi-open regime, using electronic anklets”.
Some of the prisoners violated the electronic monitoring system “coincidentally before and during attacks recorded in recent days”, reported the MPRN.
“For the investigators, there is no doubt about the mobilization power of the hundreds of members of the criminal organization. The sense of terror felt and witnessed by Potiguares in recent days, resulting from criminal attacks perpetrated against public and private institutions and against public security agents, portrays this scenario well”, detailed the note.
The people arrested during today’s actions are, according to the prosecutors, “leaders of the criminal organization at liberty who exercise or have exercised relevant functions for the faction”.
Among the crimes committed is that of constituting and joining a criminal organization, a crime whose penalty can be imprisonment from three to eight years, which may be increased in cases where a firearm has been used; or “aggravated” in cases where convicts are identified as ringleaders.
Three public prosecutors participate in Operation Sentinela; 16 MPRN servants; 60 federal police; 31 federal road police; 96 military police; and 24 penal police officers.
