Brazil's Federal Police arrested Rio de Janeiro city councilman Jorge Canella (União Brasil), a reserve colonel of the state military police, in flagrante delicto on Tuesday morning (22), after officers found two rifles and a submachine gun of restricted use at a property in the Barra da Tijuca neighborhood. The raid is the seventh phase of an investigation known as Operação Unha e Carne, launched to probe suspected illegal possession of restricted firearms by one of the people under investigation in the case.
Officers served three search and seizure warrants, in Barra da Tijuca, in Recreio dos Bandeirantes and at the Rio city council. According to CNN Brasil, the orders were issued by Supreme Federal Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who oversees the investigation. The channel reported there was no arrest warrant against the councilman; the in flagrante arrest followed the discovery of the weapons, which police said were held in violation of legal requirements. Canella, whose registered name is Jorge Eduardo Barreto de Andrade Filho according to Veja magazine, was taken with the guns to the Federal Police regional headquarters in Rio.
In a statement, the Federal Police said he will answer for illegal possession of a restricted firearm. CNN Brasil said it sought comment from Canella's lawyers and had received no reply by publication time. Police are probing his connection to Márcio Canella, a former mayor of Belford Roxo; Veja describes the councilman as tied to the former mayor.
How the case got here
Operação Unha e Carne investigates an alleged money laundering scheme in Rio state that, according to a report by the financial intelligence unit Coaf cited by CNN Brasil, moved more than 7.6 billion reais over six years. Police suspect a network of gas stations in the metropolitan region served as a front for the scheme, with the participation of public officials. Earlier phases led to the arrests of politicians Rodrigo Bacellar, TH Joias and Thiago Rangel and of pastor Márcio Poncio.
In the sixth phase, on July 7, Márcio Canella, then the state president of União Brasil and a pre-candidate for the Senate, was arrested in flagrante delicto after officers found a .556 caliber rifle in his car. He denied owning the weapon, and police described him as the political arm of the investigated group.
Because he was arrested in flagrante delicto, Jorge Canella must be brought before a judge for a custody hearing within 24 hours, as Brazilian law requires. A custody hearing is a prompt judicial review of an arrest in which the judge may uphold the detention or order release pending trial. It is the next step in the case, and no time for it had been announced when this story was filed.