Trains from railway companies that transport cargo to the Port of Santos are under attack by a criminal network that loots the wagons and practices acts of vandalism.
The main targets are wagons with soybeans, sugar, meat and fuel. Last year alone, at least 110 occurrences of this type were registered at Civil Police stations in Baixada Santista, as found by Estadão.
The successive attacks led the Military Police to launch, on January 20, a special operation against train looting. At least 22 suspects were arrested.
According to the National Association of Railway Transporters (ANTF), the action of criminals specializing in cargo theft has been putting the safety of the population at risk and causing damage to the country’s economy.
On February 1st, three MRS Logística wagons that operated on the network of the Rumo logistics company were set on fire in Embu-Guaçu. The pulp cargo was quickly consumed by the flames, and the fire forced traffic to stop on the railway and in an adjacent street. No suspects were arrested.
On January 25, two railroad security guards – a civil guard and a retired military policeman – were shot dead when they tried to prevent the looting of a train, in Vila Esperança, in Cubatão. Three suspects were arrested.
The death of the agents is still under investigation, as it occurred during a shootout in which military police from the Special Operations Command (COE) were also trying to prevent the attack on the wagons.
On the 22nd of January, a Sunday, a train carrying sugar in bulk to the Port of Santos was attacked in the continental area of São Vicente. The looters obstructed the line, forcing the train to stop, and opened six carriages.
The cargo spread along the tracks, also reaching a road adjacent to the Padre Manoel da Nóbrega highway (SP-55). The amount of sugar scattered around even prevented access to the Acaraú neighborhood, forcing Rumo teams to work for five days to remove the material.
On the 24th, monitoring cameras caught two men on a train, looting the cargo, in Cubatão. A third suspect lost his balance while trying to climb onto the moving wagon, fell and was nearly run over. The other men managed to remove bags of produce from the wagon and throw them alongside the railroad tracks.
On the 30th, another train was the target of criminals when passing through São Vicente. The bandits opened the soybean wagons and tons of the product spilled onto the tracks. The composition was forced to stop due to the spillage of the cargo.
In October of last year, in Cubatão, a crowd looted a container car that was carrying a load of beef to the port of Santos. The metal roof of the wagon was cut by the looters to remove the boxes with whole pieces of meat.
The product came from a refrigerator in Rondonópolis (MT) and was shipped to a ship at the Port of Santos. The crowd dispersed as the police arrived.
Prisons
Since actions have become frequent, the PM tries to close the siege against criminals. On January 26, in Vila Esperança, in Cubatão, ten criminals who were part of a train attack gang were arrested.
With them, the police seized 129 bags of soybeans that had been stolen from the wagons. On Wednesday (1st), a man was arrested while transporting seven bags of sugar in his car, also in Cubatão, in Baixada Santista. He would sell the cargo for R$1,200.
Inside the vehicle, there were also soy beans, indicating that the car was used to dispose of products from withdrawals from wagons. Police officers patrolling the Vila Natal community became suspicious of the vehicle with the rear end down due to the weight it was carrying.
The 32-year-old suspect was taken to the Civil Police station and booked in flagrante delicto for the crime of reception. Withdrawals also take place in other regions of the state of São Paulo.
On the 11th of last November, a couple was arrested in Campinas with 700 liters of diesel stolen from the tank car of a train stopped on the railroad, in Paulínia. Operator security caught the criminal action and followed the couple’s vehicle. The fuel was in 14 gallons of 50 liters, which were seized.
According to city guard Christopher Tuckmantel, other similar thefts have already been reported in the region. “The trains stop to wait for the transfer at the Paulínia terminal and they steal using a small pump to remove the fuel. They ignore the risk that they can cause a fire and even an explosion, ”he said.
In São Joaquim da Barra, in the interior of São Paulo, 11 members of a gang were arrested, suspected of looting a load of soy from a train stopped near Pioneiros, district of Guará. The railway section is managed by VLI Logística.
Five men were arrested in flagrante delicto for aggravated theft and the others were heard and released. In the action, the police recovered 360 bags of soybeans, in addition to a large amount of grain in bulk, and seized two trucks.
Actions in other states
Although, in general, looting on trains is occasional, there are records of successive criminal actions in other states as well.
In Minas Gerais, from January 2020 to March 2021, more than 400 attacks were recorded on trains loaded with pig iron, an ore destined for export for steel production.
The gangs enticed minors to board moving trains and remove material from the compositions. The ore is produced in 50 factories and taken by train to the port of Vitória, in Espírito Santo.
Only in March last year, motivated by the high price of the ore, the looters removed about 100 tons of the product from the wagons – at the time, each ton was worth R$ 4 thousand.
Most of the attacks took place when trains passed through peripheral areas of Belo Horizonte, where industries are installed. According to the Minas Gerais Military Police, at least 20 people were arrested after the attacks.
Damage to the railway operation
Rumo informed, in a note, that the successive attacks harm the railway operation, the safety of the community around the railway and the Brazilian economy.
“All interference on the railway line is recorded in an incident report, and the concessionaire continues to hold conversations with the Public Security Secretariat and with the general commands of the Military and Civil Police”, pointed out the company.
Also according to the note, in addition, Rumo has strengthened its security staff, subsidized the authorities with information that can help in investigations and adjusted its operations in order to reduce the consequences for its customers.
MRS Logística, which had the wagons set on fire, noted that, despite the occurrences of cargo theft and vandalism on the railroad being punctual in its network, “in view of the impacts on national logistics, we believe that the competent authorities will continue to act to solve the problem. problem”.
VLI stressed that it monitors its assets to ensure that transported cargo arrives at its destination unchanged. “If a suspicious movement is identified, the Military Police are called and, if any occurrence is registered, the company collaborates with the investigations”, they explained.
VLI reinforced that actions like these pose a risk to railway safety and to the communities located around the railway line.
What does the police say
The Command of the 21st Military Police Battalion, based in Guarujá, informed that from January 20th to February 26th, it carries out Operation Impact – Railway Modal, on the southern coast of the State, especially in the municipalities of Cubatão and Guarujá (area of Vicente de Carvalho), focused on the protection of freight trains destined for the Port of Santos.
In the city of Cubatão alone, between March 2022 and January of this year, 46 arrests were made, 48 vehicles involved in cargo theft on trains were seized, and more than 77 tons of products were recovered, including diesel, soy, sugar and corn.
On January 24, a mega operation was launched, with the support of the 1st Shock Police Battalion (Rota) and the Military Police Aviation Center, resulting in the arrest of 10 suspects and the seizure of 129 bags of soy and used gallons. in fuel theft.
In Cubatão, the force was reinforced with military policemen scheduled in extraordinary shifts during holidays. “We emphasize that the participation of the population is of great importance in terms of making complaints about these crimes”, the corporation stressed in a note.
The Civil Police, through the Criminal Investigation Department (Deic) of Santos, reported that the crimes of theft and theft of cargo from wagons are being investigated in police inquiries.
In the last six months, the PC arrested 25 people in flagrante delicto and apprehended a teenager, suspected of participation in crimes of this nature. “In addition, the work carried out jointly with the Military Police and Port Guards resulted in the recovery of several subtracted cargoes”, he said, in a note.
According to the police, field actions continue to identify and arrest other people involved.
When contacted, the Ministry of Transport informed that data on thefts and thefts of railway loads are reported by concessionaires to security agencies for actions to prevent and repress these crimes.
Source: CNN Brasil
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