This Thursday (27/11), the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro launched Operation Refinaria Livre to dismantle an extortion scheme that was imposing behind-the-scenes fear in the fuel industry on companies around the Duque de Caxias (REDOC) refinery.
What most caught the attention of investigators was that the group was led not only by a historic drug dealer in the area, but also by a priest who presented himself as a community leader while acting directly as an intermediary for the Comando Vermelho (CV).
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According to the Metropolitan Drug Control Police Center (DRE-CAP), which is conducting the investigation alongside the Baixada Drug Suppression Police Center and the 60th Police, the priest worked as an “unofficial public servant” in drug trafficking.
He entered the companies, spoke to the managers, made demands, and through his smooth talking, explained that the rules came from Joab da Conceição Silva, the drug trafficker appointed as the head of drug trafficking in the region and responsible for the attack on the 60 DP in 2025.
Blackmail under the guise of mediation
Investigations detail that the cleric posed as a community representative and, in this capacity, carried a list of diktats: a ban on trucks parked in plazas, mandatory hiring of specific residents linked to drug trafficking, payment of a monthly “coexistence fee,” and, in some cases, a requirement to stop activities. The rhetoric was always the same: it would “help avoid trouble.”
The civil police discovered that behind this “help” was a professional blackmail scheme.
Companies were forced to halt operations for several days, causing huge losses, while trade unions and shell associations were used to pressure managers.
In extreme cases, trucks and employees have been threatened, and basic services have been cut off.
Industrial axis control and infiltration
The investigation found that the group infiltrated drug traffickers’ allies within strategic industrial sectors, and forced hiring without technical standards.
Among these appointees is Rafiq Yoab, who confessed days before the attack on the 60th Division, strengthening the territorial control exercised by the drug lord within the industrial center.
The priest was actually captured with grenades
The priest, who moved between companies as an intermediary, was the target of another police operation.
At the beginning of the month, he was arrested during Operation Birds of Prey in Betim (MG), carrying a pistol, six homemade grenades and ammunition.
He admitted that he seized the weapons arsenal to carry out acts of intimidation at the Gabriel Passos Refinery (Regap), also under the pretext of “union mediation.”
Amounts of cash were also found in the car, in the presence of the head of the Fuel Transport Association.
National security risk
The presence of explosives and coordinated attacks draws the attention of civilian police to the danger posed by the national transportation of fuel.
The Duque de Caxias refinery supplies a large part of the state and has a direct impact on the Brazilian logistics chain. According to agents, an attack there could cripple supplies and cause untold damage.
So far, three members of the criminal group have been arrested. The operation continues with provisional arrest, search and seizure orders in different parts of Baixada Fluminense.