The head of the largest parapolice group in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, Luis Antônio da Silva Braga, reached an agreement with the authorities to surrender and was transferred to a maximum security prison, official sources reported.
The top leader of a powerful militia that controls the western region of Rio de Janeiro, known as Zinho, is already imprisoned in the high security prison known as Bangu 1, located in the area of influence where his gang operates, according to sources from the Secretariat of Penitentiary Administration of Rio.
Described by the governor of Rio de Janeiro, Cláudio Castro, as “enemy number 1”, Zinho, 44, had been a fugitive from justice since 2018 and surrendered to the Superintendency of the Federal Police of Rio on Sunday afternoon, Christmas Eve.
He received 12 arrest warrants, but the decision to surrender to justice and subsequently be arrested was the result of “negotiations between the fugitive militia chefs with the Federal Police and the Public Security Secretariat of Rio”, according to the federal police.
The Minister of Justice of Brazil, Flávio Dino, who will take office in February as the new judge of the Supreme Federal Court, celebrated this Sunday on social networks the “serious and planned work that is being done in Rio de Janeiro and other states to fight against criminal factions”.
Parapolice groups – which carry out illegal acts and functions outside the police -, such as the one led by Zinho, are made up of corrupt agents and former agents and have gained ground in recent years in some neighborhoods of Rio de Janeiro.
These groups impose a regime of terror in which they commit murders and rob neighbors and merchants, charging “taxes” for services such as transportation, the purchase of gas cylinders or even Internet access.
They have also become distributors of illicit drugs and firearms and have ties to the regional and municipal political class.
In Zinho’s case, authorities recently intensified actions to capture him, although without success.
In October, a police operation ended the life of Matheus da Silva Rezende, 25, known as Faustão, Zinho’s lieutenant and nephew.
Faustão was the third member of his family to die in clashes with police in the last six years.
Carlos Alexandre da Silva Braga died in another operation in 2017 and Wellington da Silva Braga in a shooting in 2021.
After the death of his two brothers, Zinho took command of the largest militia in Rio de Janeiro.
Source: TSF
