Brazilian police have arrested Joao Filipe Barbieri, the largest arms dealer, who was released from prison with a fake license discovered in February 2021. This was announced on Thursday, April 22nd, by G1.
Barbieri was arrested in the Rio metropolitan area and taken to the Northern District Police Department.
In 2017, he was sentenced to 27 years in prison on charges of domestic and international arms trafficking in Bangu prison, but the convict managed to get a false release permit and leave the place of detention on November 18, 2020.
Director of the Main Directorate of the Special Civil Police Felipe Curi noted that the department had done a great job, as a result of which all the participants in the criminal scheme and their accomplices were arrested.
Also, agents of the intelligence department of the penitentiary system arrested Barbieri’s partner, João Victor Rosa.
João Filipe Barbieri is the stepson of Frederic Barbieri, who is considered the “Lord of the Arms” and is currently serving a sentence in a US prison. Baron was sentenced to 12 years in prison after confessing to supplying about 1,000 rifles to Brazil between 2014 and 2017. However, according to investigations by the civilian police of Rio de Janeiro, the real number of sent weapons exceeds 2 thousand rifles and 300 thousand ammunition.
In August 2019, one of the largest traders in arms, Jacques Monsieur, was detained in the Portuguese city of Evora as part of a joint operation of the law enforcement agencies of Belgium, France and Portugal.