Courts Hand Down Major Sentences as Police Raids Intensify Against Crime Networks

Overview

• São Paulo’s 18th Criminal Court convicted 8 of 14 defendants in the kidnapping and extortion of model Luciana Curtis’s family, sentencing alleged leader Gabriel “Zequinha” de Lima to over 28 years and executor Sérgio Silva Soares to over 33 years.
• In Itabela, Bahia, six suspected faction members died in confrontations during Operação Desarticula, where police seized rifles, other firearms, munitions and drugs at a rural hideout.
• A Military Police action in São Gonçalo’s Jardim Catarina led to the temporary closure of BR-101 in both directions, left one civilian wounded who was later released from hospital, and resulted in five arrests with pistols and drugs seized.
• Integrated forces arrested a suspect in Monte Alegre, Pará, tied to an interstate drug route, locating two high-caliber weapons in the woods under a preventive warrant issued by the Justice of Porto de Moz.
• A Brazilian woman from Minas Gerais was sentenced in Cambodia to two years and six months; her defense may appeal as relatives allege she was trafficked, had her passport retained and was targeted by extortion after her arrest.