Pontes e Lacerda police arrest seven gang members for murder

Military and Civil police in Pontes e Lacerda arrested seven members of a criminal faction suspected of murder and concealing a corpse. The operation, part of ‘Operação Tolerância Zero’, followed the discovery of a 23-year-old man's body in a rural wooded area.

Investigations revealed the victim was kidnapped from a tobacco shop and transported via taxi to a residence. There, the victim was reportedly tied up, beaten with wooden objects, strangled, and slit throat. The suspects then transported the body in the taxi to a location approximately 40 kilometers from the municipality, where they attempted to hide it under vegetation and a comforter.

Police identified two suspects near a residence with bloodstains on the sidewalk, who subsequently confessed to the crime and implicated others. All seven suspects have been taken into custody.