I'm dedicating an entire post to a story about Operation Phonenix, an operation carried out by the Brazilian Federal Police this week. It is extremely telling not only about drugs and arms trafficking in Brazil, but about clientelism, the jail system, and organized crime.
This week the Federal Police ended a year and a half long operation by mobilizing 300 agents in several Brazilian states to apprehend members of the Beira-Mar drug ring and to seize drugs, arms, and contraband. Agents arrested 4 people in Rio, 5 in Mato Grosso do Sul, one in Parana, and one in Sao Paulo. Police recovered US$160,000 in cash, R$20,000 also in cash, expensive jewelry, and cars. Since the beginning of the operation, 30 people were arrested and 700 kilos of cocaine and 4 tons of marijuana were seized. The drugs and weapons were imported from Bolivia, Colombia, and Paraguay, and were sent to Parana state, and from there were sent on to Rio and Sao Paulo. (Many of the weapons that enter Brazil come through these routes). The Federal Police has requested that the apprehended suspects' bank accounts in Bolivia, Colombia, Venezuela and Paraguay be frozen.
Other major happenings since the beginning of the operation include 3 arrests and the recovery of cocaine and marijuana in Foz do Iguacu, one arrest and drug apprehension in Brasilia, one arrest and cocaine recovered in Rio Grande do Sul, 2 arrests and lots of drugs recovered in a Rio suburb, and 5 arrests and the discovery of money, cell phones, and weapons in Paraguay.
Now, here is the catch. Fernandinho Beira-Mar, the head of the drug ring, is in jail, and has been in jail since 2001. He was apprehended in the Colombian jungle and has since been in 8 prisons, 4 of which were maximum security. He maintained his status of king of the drug ring by cell phone and jail visits with relatives and lawyers. He even commanded an attack on a rival drug gang in 2002, and expensive alcohol and food were found in his cell. The police say he made his jail cell into an office for his "business." The people arrested yesterday had been helping him with his accounts, running the business, and communicating with him in jail. The operation was named Phoenix since Beira-Mar, like the bird, has risen from the ashes and continued to operate his business despite being in a maximum security prison.
The most important arrest this week was the arrest of Jacqueline Alcantara Morais, Mr. Beira-Mar's wife. She was living in a Rio suburb and was running the business from the outside including the sale of drugs, weapons and munitions. She married Fernandinho only 2 months ago even though they'd been together for 15 years, with a lovely little ceremony in jail. Now she's going to jail, too. Police found jewelry, US$30,000 in cash, a car, and electronics in her house alone. The picture of her in the paper shows her cramped in the back of a police car with her designer jeans, ballet flats, and huge handbag, her highlighted hair shading her face.
Police also arrested Jacqueline's sister-in-law, the wife of Fernandinho's brother. She had US$130,000 and R$20,000 stored in her house, hidden in whiskey bottle crates. Her husband was arrested en route to Paraguay to send messages from his boss. Also, in Ilha do Governador, that weird island about an hour from downtown Rio, a female lawyer was arrested on suspicion of being the drug lord's messenger.
According to the police, the Beira-Mar ring gets the best prices in negotiations for arms, drugs, and munitions and work directly with suppliers in Bolivia and Colombia. Not only do they get the best prices and the largest quantity of drugs of all the drug rings, but they also manage to purchase cocaine and marijuana of "exportation quality" to sell to other countries.
That's not all. This wasn't just a major and efficient business. It even has benefits! Traffickers were required to pay "dues" to help support the families of imprisoned traffickers, who received up to R$3000 a month. Beira-Mar also pays for all relatives to stay in the area where he's being held and for transportation to the prison for visits. And he even started paying for legal counsel for the OTHER prisoners in his penitentiary!
This certainly isn't the end of the drug ring. As you can see, it is extremely difficult to break up such a well-structured and complex organization. And so the Rio drug wars go on.