Maceió police operation involving R$ 2 million is not linked to PT

A video showing a police operation in Maceió, Alagoas, where approximately R$ 2 million in cash was seized, is being circulated with false captions claiming the money belonged to a ‘PT gang’ intended for vote-buying.

Fact-checking investigations confirm the footage is real but the context is misrepresented. The operation, originally reported in September, targeted two men linked to Ceilurb Ltda., a company providing public lighting services to the Maceió City Hall. The seizure followed alerts from the Sergipe Civil Police regarding suspicious bank withdrawals totaling over R$ 5 million within a ten-day period.

The incident sparked political accusations between Alagoas gubernatorial candidates Renan Filho (MDB) and JHC (PSDB). While JHC was accused of vote-buying and slush fund activities, he countered that the company in question had received significant payments from the state government during the administrations of Renan Filho and Paulo Dantas. Authorities have not concluded the specific purpose of the funds, but there is no evidence linking the operation to members of the Workers' Party (PT).