Roberto Jefferson case: PM investigation fails to discover from which battalion the light and sound grenades used to attack PF agents were diverted | Rio de Janeiro

Roberto Jefferson case: dead end investigation

The investigation opened by the Military Police to discover how two light and sound grenades from the corporation ended up in the hands of former federal deputy Roberto Jefferson is stalled. The reason: the PM didn’t even know that each grenade can be identified individually, and that’s why it still couldn’t pinpoint which battalion the explosives were sent to – which later ended up diverted.

In September last year, Octávio Guedes’ blog reported that a Federal Police investigation had discovered that two of the three light and sound grenades that Roberto Jefferson threw at the federal police officers who went to arrest him in October 2022 had been purchased by Rio Military Police in 2010.

PF experts discovered that the grenade triggers have a chip that allows the explosives to be tracked, even after they have been detonated. The chip of each grenade contains a unique code, which can be read with radio frequency equipment – ​​which allows each explosive to be identified individually.

On October 23, 2022, one week before the second round of the presidential elections, Roberto Jefferson attacked the federal police who went to arrest him at home by order of the Federal Supreme Court. The former parliamentarian fired more than 50 rifle shots and threw three light and sound grenades at the agents. Two police officers were injured by shrapnel. After resisting for 8 hours, Jefferson decided to surrender and was arrested.

In a statement to the Federal Police shortly after his arrest, the former deputy said, without giving details, that he always had a grenade and that the items were purchased “on the market” five years earlier.

In response to a request from GloboNews via the Access to Information Law, the PM informed that it does not have a contract with any company to dispose of expired light and sound grenades. The corporation also said that it uses all explosives before their expiration date, in instructional courses.

The military police investigation opened in October last year by the PM’s Internal Affairs Unit tries to discover, then, how two grenades purchased by the PM in 2010 ended up being used by Roberto Jefferson, 12 years later.

According to the investigation, in 2010, 500 light and sound grenades were purchased, identical to those used by Roberto Jefferson. The explosives were distributed to 29 pacification police battalions and units between 2012 and 2015.

In the inquiry, the PM herself admits that she didn’t even know that it was possible to identify each grenade individually, and that the control of the arsenal is only carried out by batch.

Therefore, it is not known which battalion the two grenades used by Jefferson were sent to. Without knowing at least which battalion the artifacts were diverted from, it becomes even more difficult to pinpoint who was responsible for the diversion.

“Historically, we have proven that the Military Police, even due to the size of the force and the amount of military material used, has tried to overcome difficulties in controlling weapons, ammunition, weapons, grenades… today we have already managed to make significant progress in this regard. . Some war material reserves are digitized, everything is digital. Others, not so much. But in 2010, bookkeeping technology was still being used”, explains prosecutor Paulo Roberto Mello Cunha Júnior, who is following the PM’s internal investigation.

“So, retracing the steps of specific objects (a grenade, a cartridge), considering the time lapse and the way it was done at that time, is quite difficult to do when you realize that there was this deviation. We try , in the investigation, listen to witnesses. Trying to recover, at the unit level, the records of the distribution of weapons, so we can try to identify when that specific piece was diverted, but it is a very difficult job”, he adds.

“This case shows this lack of care with the arsenal of public institutions. Not only with physical stock, but also with distribution controls: which units are receiving these materials, which police officers are responsible for them while they are in the unit, which materials have already been consumed and which are in stock, which are about to expire and need be discarded… all of this is management that needs to be done with much more care, because these cases of deviation end up victimizing the population. And in this case, public agents too”, highlights Natália Pollachi, project manager at Instituto Sou da Paz, a specialist in arms control.

The Press Office of the State Secretariat of Military Police said that, at the time, the Corporation’s Internal Affairs Department opened a Military Police Inquiry that has already been sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The corporation’s command remains fully available to collaborate with other investigative procedures related to the case.

Roberto Jefferson’s defense was sought, but he did not speak out.