Bolsonaro ally accused of spying targeted by Federal Police

The Brazilian Federal Police (PF) this Thursday launched a major operation against what it called a “parallel criminal organization” that was created during the reign of former President Jair Bolsonaro within ABIN, the Brazilian Intelligence Agency, by the then director of the “secret agency.” “, Alexander Ramagem Ramagem, currently a federal lawmaker, is a prime target and federal agents have already searched his congressional office, his residence and other places associated with him, but he is not the subject of an arrest warrant.

In total, the FI is executing 21 search and arrest warrants for Ramagem and other suspects in Brasília, Rio de Janeiro, where he lives, and the cities of Juiz de Fora and São João del Rey in the state of Minas Gerais . . In this Thursday’s operation, the judge who authorized the searches also ordered the immediate suspension of seven federal police agents suspected of involvement in this secret organization created by Ramagem in ABIN.

According to the investigation, Alexandre Ramagem, who is a delegate (inspector) of the Federal Police, when appointed by Jair Bolsonaro in 2020 as director general of the “secret”, named seven PF agents also as objects of today’s operation and together they created a kind of parallel intelligence department within the official department. The purpose of this parallel organization, according to investigators, was to spy on opponents of the government of Jair Bolsonaro, authorities and politicians who criticized the then President of Brazil, and even on the judges of the Federal Supreme Court of the STF, who were on the front line against the authoritarian decisions of parliament. the then head of state.

According to the PF’s findings in an investigation that began last year after Jair Bolsonaro left the presidency, the group led by Ramagem illegally used Israeli spy equipment considered illegal in Brazil. Using this equipment, it was possible to track the location of thousands of people in real time, and this was done against deputies, senators, businessmen, party leaders critical of Bolsonaro, and members of the judiciary.

Alexandre Ramagem has always been very close to the Bolsonaro family, and the then president tried to appoint him director general of the Federal Police, with the argument, voiced publicly by the president himself, that at the head of this corporation he needed to put someone he personally trusted, the one who warned about the operations before they are carried out, especially if the target was him, his children or allies. Given the publicity of this goal, which even led to the dismissal of then Justice Minister Sergio Moro in 2020, the Federal Supreme Court prohibited the appointment of Ramagem as head of the PF, and Bolsonaro then decided to appoint him as director general of the PF. PF. ABIN.