Overview

• Paloma Cristina Cavalcanti Bacalhau, 37, was taken into custody on Tuesday in Engenho do Porto, Duque de Caxias.
• Agents from the 12ª DP (Copacabana), with support from the tourist police unit Deat, executed two preventive-prison warrants.
• Police link her to multiple cases in which victims were drugged before valuables were taken and bank cards were used for purchases and withdrawals.
• Investigators say she was identified in six inquests in 2024, with victims including Germans, Swiss and Norwegians, as well as visitors from São Paulo and Minas Gerais.
• A frequent accomplice, Eduardo Fonseca de Freitas, was arrested in flagrante in December 2024 and was released on June 25, 2025, as police now seek more information via the 12ª DP tip lines at (21) 98596-7380 and (21) 2332-7914.