PM suspected of involvement in the theft of a cigarette manufacturing machine used a Civil Police vehicle

A report produced by the Civil Police Internal Affairs that names three suspects involved in the theft of a cigarette manufacturing machine, taken from the Police City in 2023, including a civil police officer and a military police officer, reveals another irregularity. According to the document, a search on a digital image platform shows that PM Laércio Gonçalves was in possession of a Civil Police vehicle, despite not being part of the corporation’s staff.

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In the investigation, there is an image of the vehicle parked in the garage of the PM’s residence. In addition, the document also contains a photo in which the PM appears alongside civil police officers from the Cargo Robbery and Theft Police Station (DFRC) participating in an operation in a community.

The same document mentions that civil police officer Juan Felipe Alves da Silva, stationed at the DRFC at the time of the events and also suspected of participating in the theft of the machine, handled more than R$4.7 million in one year. The information appears in an intelligence report from the Financial Activities Control Council (Coaf), which is attached to the investigation. The movement occurred, according to Coaf data, between March 10, 2022 and March 31, 2023.

The period also covers the probable date of the theft, which, according to evidence collected by the internal affairs department, would have occurred between the early hours of February 16, 2023 and the following day. According to the investigation launched by the Civil Police, PM Laércio Gonçalves de Souza Filho, another suspect involved in the disappearance of the machinery, would have transferred at least R$300,000 to Civil Police agent Juan Felipe Alves da Silva, at the time of the theft. Both are neighbors and would have a close relationship of friendship and trust, according to the document. At the time, Juan Felipe was assigned to the Robbery and Cargo Theft Police Station (DRFC) and head of the specialized investigation service. The machine had been seized in an operation and disappeared from a DRFC warehouse, where it was stored to be delivered to a company that auctioned it off.

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The main line of investigation followed by the police is that the cigarette packaging machine was removed in a truck. It would have been transported with an escort by a DRFC vehicle to the city of Cuiabá, in the State of Mato Grosso, where the equipment was probably sold. A specialized vehicle was spotted by a radar at 12:19 am on February 17, 2023 in the vicinity of Cidade da Policia, on Avenida Demáculos. Eight days later, the same patrol was photographed by a radar on Rodovia Emanuel Pinheiro in Cuiabá, capital of Mato Grosso.

On the 22nd, after receiving an anonymous tip, a machine similar to the model stolen, in 2023, from a warehouse in the City of Police, was seized at an address in the São Sebastião market, in Penha, in the North Zone of Rio. There was a tobacco company there. The equipment was seized at the request of the Civil Police to the Court, which issued a search and seizure warrant. At the time, a company lawyer denied that the machinery was the same one that disappeared from the Police City. Investigators are awaiting the results of a forensic examination to confirm whether or not the machine was stolen or whether its parts were used in the equipment found.

In addition to the civil police officer’s financial transactions and the transfer of R$300,000 made by the PM to agent Juan Felipe, the report produced by the Civil Police Internal Affairs Unit pointed out another irregularity. According to the document, a search on a digital image platform revealed that PM Laércio Gonçalves was in possession of a Civil Police vehicle, despite not being part of the corporation’s staff. In addition, the document also contains a photo in which the PM appears alongside DFRC civil police officers participating in an operation in a community.

Juan Felipe Alves has been in prison since 2023, also suspected of participating in negotiating a truck seized with drugs with traffickers. This Monday, men from the General Inspectorate of the Civil Police, with the support of the Undersecretariat of Intelligence and the Internal Affairs of the Military Police, carried out search and seizure warrants against three suspects involved in the theft of the cigarette machine. In addition to the PM and the civil police officer, the third suspect is businessman Silvano do Nascimento Moreira, to whom PM Laércio would be linked. Investigations indicate that a Moreira truck may have been used to transport the cigarette machine.

The vehicle would have had its license plate removed and even helped bring the Mato Grosso Civil Police vehicle back to Rio. To Extra, this Tuesday, businessman Silvano do Nascimento Moreira confirmed that he denies any involvement with the disappearance of the machine. cigarettes. He also stated that he should go to the Civil Police Internal Affairs Office, this Wednesday, to provide all clarifications.

Extra tried to contact PM Laércio Gonçalves by telephone, but the number was disconnected. In a note, the Secretary of State for Military Police reported, this Monday, only that it gave full support to the integrated action with the Civil Police that had a military police officer as one of its targets.

To G1, Juan Felipe’s defense said, this Monday, that he has no knowledge of the facts, was never summoned to make any statement on the matter and was never responsible for the warehouse of the Robbery and Cargo Theft Police Station.

EXTRA was unable to contact Juan Felipe’s defense this Tuesday.

Asked whether a separate procedure would be opened to determine how a military police officer was in possession of a Civil Police vehicle, as stated in a report from the Internal Affairs Department sent to the Court, the corporation’s advisor informed that the facts are already being investigated in the same context as the cited investigation.