This Tuesday morning (12), the Federal Police launched an operation in Rio de Janeiro to dismantle a criminal organization specialized in the illegal capture, reception and trafficking of wild animals, including endangered specimens, through falsification of documents and seals. public bodies from Ibama and the State Environmental Institute (Inea).
The action has the support of the Military Police Internal Affairs (PMERJ) and the Fire Department (CBMERJ) of the state because the leader of the group appointed by the PF is a military firefighter.
The operation has around 100 federal police officers, who carry out three preventive arrest warrants and 20 search and seizure warrants, in the municipalities of Rio de Janeiro, Niterói, São Gonçalo, Itaboraí and Maricá.
According to the PF, the investigation detected the “stable and permanent” activities of a criminal organization led by a military firefighter and made up of hunters, trappers, forgers and wildlife traffickers.
The group also included the participation of employees from Inea and the Environmental Policing Command (CPAm), as well as a university student and two veterinarians.
After the operation begins, the professional veterinary council and institutions will be notified.
Among the cycle of falsifying documents, the investigation found that the gang fraudulently registered trafficked animals in the National Wildlife Management System, Sisfauna, and in the Control and Monitoring System for Amateur Bird Breeding Activity, Sispass – both managed by Ibama –, with the aim of making control and inspection by environmental agencies more difficult.
The PF says that the animals also received a series of mistreatment from members of the gang and were sold, mostly on social media, for amounts between R$20,000 and R$120,000, depending on the species and whether whether or not they would be accompanied by a “kit” of false documents.
So far, investigations have detected that at least 120 capuchin monkeys – some threatened with extinction, such as the crested capuchin monkey – were trafficked by the gang in just one year, in addition to hundreds of other wild animals such as macaws, birds , deer, iguanas and parrots. This fact provided the criminals with an illicit enrichment of approximately R$2.4 million, which could reach R$14.4 million.
The investigation also points out that a large part of the amounts obtained through criminal practices, when not transacted in cash, were hidden in accounts of companies belonging to members of the criminal organization, or even in the name of third parties.
Those investigated will be responsible for the crimes of criminal organization, qualified reception, environmental crime, embezzlement, forgery of documents and public seals, forgery of private documents, use of false documents and ideological falsehood. If added together, the sentences can reach 46 to 58 years in prison.
Buyers may be held liable for the crime of reception – as they were aware of the illegality of the animals when purchasing them –, with the exception of those who collaborate by delivering the animals spontaneously and providing clarifications to the Rio PF Police Office for the Suppression of Crimes against the Environment. .
In a statement, the Military Fire Department of the State of Rio de Janeiro stated that it vehemently repudiates any and all illicit conduct that violates the precepts of order, discipline and morality characteristic of the profession of military firefighter.
“The CBMERJ Internal Affairs Department, in conjunction with the Federal Police, is part of the operation and reinforces that it remains at the disposal of the authorities to collaborate in the investigations”, added the corporation.
A CNN also contacted the Military Police of Rio de Janeiro, which limited itself to saying that the operation was conducted by the Federal Police and did not comment on the alleged involvement of agents from the Environmental Policing Command (CPAm).
Source: CNN Brasil
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