This Thursday, Brazilian police caught two leaders of the Comando Vermelho criminal gang, who escaped 50 days ago from the high-security federal prison of Mossoro in the interior of the state of Rio Grande do Norte. The escape of Rogerio Mendonça and Deibson do Nascimento occurred on February 14, Ash Wednesday, and was the first escape from a federal prison in Brazil since the first one was built 18 years ago.
The two fugitives were caught in the town of Maraba, in the interior of Pará state, more than 1,500 kilometers from Mossoro. They were traveling in three cars with other criminals when agents, in a joint action of the Federal Police (PF) and the Federal Highway Police (FRF), surprised them and surrounded them at the top of the bridge over the Tocantins River, in a place chosen because it did not allow either one transport route to escape from a wanted person.
The hunt for the two fugitives involved more than 600 agents from various regional and federal corporations, including the National Forces, supported by a large number of helicopters, drones and tracking dogs. Last week, the Ministry of Justice, apparently recognizing the failure of the mega-operation, withdrew federal forces from the search, but the arrest of two so far from the official hunt site makes one think that the PF already had concrete leads. .
Rogerio and Deibson escaped in a spectacular sting that so far had no evidence of corruption or the involvement of prison officials, but exposed huge flaws for a prison that prided itself on not allowing escapes. Two prisoners, who were in separate cells and, at least in theory, unable to communicate, punched holes in the walls of the cell, tore out thick iron bars from inside and used them to expand the tiny space in the ceiling through which the power wires transmit energy and left on the same day and at the same time, crossed the entire prison through the roof, and then cut the fence with pliers, which they found while repairing the prison.
More than once, the new Minister of Justice and Public Security, former judge of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) Ricardo Lewandowski, stated that the arrest of the two fugitives was a matter of several hours, but the hunt for the fugitives lasted almost two months. . During these 50 days, six more people were arrested on suspicion of helping the fugitives, and during this Thursday’s action, in addition to Rogerio and Deibson, four more people who were with them in the intercepted cars were arrested.