Brazilian Federal Police launch multi‑state raids against fraud, drug trafficking and organized crime

The Federal Police began a series of operations across Brazil targeting a range of criminal activities. Operation AD Phishing uncovered 1,770 fraudulent online ads that mimicked government websites and used artificial‑intelligence‑generated content; nine search‑and‑seizure warrants were executed in Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina and São Paulo.

Operation Galho Fraco II (the third phase of Operation Rent a Car) focused on alleged misuse of parliamentary funds, investigating possible peculation, money‑laundering and procedural fraud in the Federal District, Goiás and Minas Gerais.

Operation Coluna Sul, the largest coordinated action by the GAECO task force, carried out 320 judicial orders in six states—Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Paraná, São Paulo, Mato Grosso do Sul and Minas Gerais—resulting in 151 temporary arrests, 169 searches and the fatal shooting of a gang suspect.

In the south, Operation Placebo targeted a scheme that falsified high‑cost cancer drugs and inflated public procurement bids, executing 57 warrants in Rio Grande do Sul and four other states, seizing adulterated medication and freezing roughly R$ 2.5 million.

Operation Papaia in Pernambuco and Paraíba disrupted an international cocaine trafficking network that concealed about 300 kg of cocaine in fruit pallets.

Other actions included Operation Initium exposing a R$ 2.3 million fraud in Recife’s municipal contracts, Operation Anáfora II finding R$ 450 thousand hidden under a sofa in Xerém, a nationwide crackdown on illegal cable‑theft in Bragança Paulista, and a ministry‑level raid on lawyers alleged to act as “messengers of crime.”

Separate cases also saw the arrest of an Argentine impostor who scammed a Brazilian woman of roughly R$ 1 million and the seizure of a businessman attempting to transport thousands of Paraguayan diet‑pills.