The court decision specifying the arrest of five military police officers suspected of misappropriating a rifle seized during the massive Contensão operation, on October 28, in the Benha complex, in Rio de Janeiro, shows a dialogue in which one of the prime ministers allegedly warned his colleagues that he would keep a seized rifle in his backpack. According to the investigation, the weapon was not officially presented to the authorities.
On Friday (28), the Prime Minister’s Department of Internal Affairs arrested five military police officers from the shock battalion. Three of them were identified as Third Sergeant Eduardo de Oliveira Coutinho, Lieutenant Marcelo Luiz do Amaral, and Second Sergeant Diogo da Silva Souza.
The Rio Court of Justice system does not indicate the names of the prisoners’ lawyers. Police did not say whether it constituted a defense.
The Prime Minister said in a statement that it “does not condone potential misconduct or crimes committed by its members, and strictly punishes those involved when the facts are proven.”
The arrest document, signed by Judge Thales Nogueira Cavalcante Venancio Braga of Rio’s Court of Justice, states that conversations between police officers were captured by a body camera mounted on their uniform.
The scene on which the robbery suspicion was based occurred during an exchange of gunfire between police officers and suspects in the Banha complex. After the confrontation stopped, one of the police officers raised his gun from the ground.
Photos show the weapons collected, but there is no official record of the gun being confiscated. For the judge, this fact “raises well-founded doubts about the diversion and concealment of weapons.”
After collecting the gun, the police went to a commercial establishment. Dialogue for Justice suggests hiding the gun and turning it over.
In the conversation, Coutinho told Amaral: “I will take it off and put it in my bag again. It is separate. Can you put it there?”
After Amaral’s response, which the investigators did not understand, Coutinho stated. “I’m going to put it over there behind the bench, okay? Because I’m going to take it back, because I’m going to take it off and take my bag back, it’s separate.”
Marcelo asks Coutinho: Did you put it in your backpack? Laird Coutinho: “It’s divided, I broke it up.”
Outside the establishment, another police officer, Sergeant Diogo da Silva Souza, says: “You have to go to a deserted place and put it in the trash.” “I would ride it again,” Coutinho answers, and Sousa suggests: “There are some deserted streets like that.”
The decision stated that “the recordings did not allow determining the destination of the gun that was collected, nor did they clarify the path of the parts that were taken out of the car.”
Police returned into the community and positioned themselves next to a vehicle. “Let me take a look at this Toro here… Oh, I really need a headlight,” Coutinho said. Then he opened the car door and repeated: “I need a headlight.”
Minutes later, Coutinho arrived near Amaral and said: “There is a small piece here that I need.” “It’s time,” Amaral replied.
The picture shows Coutinho with his hand on the car’s engine, when he removed the materials from the vehicle.
The search and seizure targets five more Chowk police officers. Investigations are being conducted under the supervision of the First Military Judicial Police Station.