Silvinei was carrying a letter in Spanish when he was arrested, saying the cancer prevented him from speaking and understanding “oral instructions.”

He was arrested at the airport in Asunción, Paraguay, where he was trying to board a flight to El Salvador.

“I have been diagnosed with grade IV glioblastoma multiforme, a cancer located in the head (brain), an oncological disease with a serious prognosis, which is why I cannot communicate verbally or understand oral instructions,” reads an excerpt from the letter.

The director general of the Federal Police, Andrei Rodrigues, said Friday that Silvinei’s arrest was the result of a coordinated action between the Brazilian PF and Paraguayan authorities. Vasques was arrested at Asunción International Airport while trying to board a flight to El Salvador after breaking the electronic bracelet imposed on his ankle by court order.

According to Rodrigues, the operation was supported by the federal police attaché in Paraguay, who was responsible for liaising with local security forces and exchanging information that allowed the former director to be approached while he was still at the airport.

— The arrest is the result of a coordinated action between the Brazilian Federal Police and the Paraguayan authorities, with an important role of our attaché in Paraguay — Andrei Rodrigues told GLOBO.

The former PRF general director was arrested about 1,300 kilometers from his home, in São José, in the Florianópolis metropolitan region. According to PF’s investigation, the escape plan involved creating a Paraguayan passport, leaving home on Christmas Eve, renting a car and breaking the electronic ankle monitor, which stopped working during the trip, likely due to a lack of battery.

Security footage from the building where Vasques lived, obtained by the PF, shows he left the premises around 7 p.m. on December 24, Christmas Eve. At the time, he loaded a silver Polo car with bags — they weren’t suitcases, investigators noted — into the trunk. On the passenger seat he placed bags of food, a toilet mat, a potty and a dog resembling a pitbull breed. He was wearing black sweatpants, a gray t-shirt and a black cap.

The Federal Police identified that the vehicle used was rented, even though Vasques had his own car which, according to the company’s report, continued to circulate in the Greater Florianópolis area. Authorities noticed the escape around 3 a.m. on the 25th, when the electronic ankle bracelet stopped emitting GPS and then GPRS signals. On Christmas Day, at 8 p.m., agents from the Santa Catarina Criminal Police went to the address of the former director of the PRF, but received no response. According to the PF, the federal police repeated the investigation and arrived at the same result.