Overview

• Federal agents executed 10 preventive arrest warrants and 8 search orders across Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Minas Gerais with about 50 officers deployed.
• Alleged leader Silas Diniz was taken into custody along with his wife in Rio, where police seized R$158,000 in cash at his Barra da Tijuca apartment.
• Investigators say the group could produce about 3,500 rifles per year using CNC machinery and parts imported from the United States and China.
• The network restructured after a 2023 bust, and in August 2025 the PF dismantled a Santa Bárbara d’Oeste plant hidden behind an aeronautical-parts façade, seizing finished rifles and over 31,000 components.
• Weapons were routed to Rio strongholds including Rocinha and the Complexo do Alemão, and suspects face charges of aggravated criminal organization, international arms trafficking and illegal commerce of restricted weapons.