A criminal faction with national operations was the target of Operation Argento, carried out this Thursday (14) in four states in Brazil. The objective was to combat a drug trafficking money laundering scheme run by the organization. One of the main operators of the scheme was arrested in Vitória da Conquista, in southwestern Bahia.
In addition to carrying out preventive detention in this city, the Public Ministry of the State of Bahia, through the Special Action Group to Combat Criminal Organizations (Gaeco), together with the Military Police, also carried out, in Urandi, six search warrants and seizure of money, cell phones, jewelry and other materials that will be analyzed to further the investigation.
The court ordered the blocking of more than R$2 billion in assets and values linked to the faction, in an attempt to destabilize the financial structure of the criminal organization, resulting in the unavailability of the assets of 101 people.
According to the joint investigation coordinated by the Public Ministry of Rio Grande do Norte and the Federal Revenue Service, before the operation, 468 bank accounts were analyzed in which R$1.6 billion were transferred between 2014 and 2024.
According to the MP from Bahia, the arrested man would be one of Valdeci Alves dos Santos’ main associates, identified as head of the laundering scheme and one of the leaders of the faction.
Also known by the nicknames Pintado, Vermelho, Prateado, Colorido or Tio, Valdeci has been imprisoned since April 2022 in a unit of the Federal Penitentiary System.
The investigation into the operation also revealed evidence that he continued the illicit activities of drug trafficking and money laundering through relatives and trusted associates.
Shell companies
The group laundered resources through shell companies, buying and selling luxury properties and purchasing race horses.
Operation Argento is an offshoot of Operation Plata, carried out in February 2023, which had already revealed part of the group’s structure, resulting in the arrests and convictions of several members.
In total, seven preventive arrest warrants and others and another 29 search and seizure warrants were served, in addition to Bahia, in the Rio Grande do Sul cities of Natal, Caicó, Parnamirim and Nísia Floresta; in São Paulo and Campinas, in São Paulo; and Trairão, in Pará.
This content was originally published in Suspect of laundering money from a national criminal faction is arrested in Bahia on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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