Two civil police officers were arrested and one is wanted by the Police on suspicion of placing a marijuana tablet in a house during an operation in the Pampulha Region, in Belo Horizonte.
According to Civil Police sources, those arrested are Ana Luiza Guimarães Carvalho and Rafael Egg Macedo. They participated in executing a search and seizure warrant at the property on August 7, which targeted the son of a civil police officer.
The suspicion arose after the family questioned the origin of the drug found in a shoe rack. The action was filmed by the Civil Police itself, and the recordings became part of the Internal Affairs investigation.
The Civil Police reported that the General Inspectorate is investigating the case. In a statement, the institution stated that it does not condone possible misconduct by employees and reaffirmed its commitment to an impartial and rigorous investigation.
Weapon was found first
The August operation was carried out by police officers from the State Department for Combating Drug Trafficking (Denarc).
During the search, a 9 mm pistol with burst kit, 42 rounds of ammunition, radio communicators and a marijuana tablet weighing 740.43 grams were seized.
The images show Matheus Bruno Andrade Fernandes taking the police to a bedroom, where a loaded gun was found inside a drawer. He told agents that he had the weapon because he had been threatened.
The defense says it does not question the location of the weapon. The dispute is about the marijuana tablet found later in the same room. Matheus is the son of a civil police officer.
Matheus and his father, Bruno Gleidson Fernandes, have been in prison since then. According to the defense, the two are investigated for drug trafficking. Matheus is also being investigated for illegal possession of a firearm.
Family points out images
In the recordings of the operation, the shoe rack where the marijuana was found appears during the police officers' first visit to the room.
Afterwards, agents return to the room and announce that they found the drugs. Matheus and his father immediately disputed this and stated that the package was not there.
The defense claims that the room had already been searched and that the search of the room had ended when the marijuana was located.
Lawyer Nathan Nunes also points out an excerpt from the recordings in which, according to him, it is possible to observe a volume in the region of a police officer's leg as the agent enters the house.
“In this video, as soon as the defense had access, they were able to identify in the pants of one of the police officers, as he entered, a volume very similar to the bar that was found,” he stated.
According to the defense, when the drugs were located, one of the shoes that had previously appeared in the shoe rack was on the floor, and the package was in its place.
A witness interviewed during the investigation stated that he followed part of the search in the room. According to the report, after locating the weapon, the police officers divided themselves between different rooms of the residence.
Internal Affairs investigates police actions
After the complaint, the Civil Police Sub-Inspector's Office opened an investigation into the agents' actions.
The recordings are analyzed to identify who entered the room where the marijuana was found and reconstruct the movement of police officers inside the residence.
The investigation also seeks to establish the interval between the location of the weapon and the seizure of the drugs.
Another point analyzed is the images of the agents themselves, to check if any of them were carrying bags, bags or other volumes that could be related to the package found.
The records also record that three police officers who were not part of the Denarc team responsible for the search were at the property: Tiago Giovani Moreira Reis, Marcos Nei Fernandes Lourenço and Elton Ribeiro da Silva.
The circumstances under which the drugs were found and the responsibility of those involved remain under investigation.
The defense of Matheus and Bruno reported that they submitted requests for freedom for both of them and are awaiting a decision from the Court.
