Group charged R$1.50 per bottle sold after CV chief 'leased' community in Fortaleza; understand

The group of suspects arrested on Friday (6) on suspicion of extortion from water sellers in Fortaleza charged R$ 1.50 per bottle and began to charge after the head of Comando Vermelho in the region "leased" some communities in the Parque Dois Irmãos neighborhood for exploration.

The information is contained in the group's custody hearing, held this Saturday (7). They had their arrest in flagrante delicto converted into preventive detention, that is, when there is no set period for it to end.

Just as happened in the city of Banabuiú, which had the sale of water suspended after threats from the Red Command, neighborhoods in the capital of Ceará also faced difficulties in selling the product due to crime.

According to the process, the extortions began on November 2 in the "Complexo da Rosalina", which includes the communities Rosalina and Riacho Doce, Jardim União I and II and Parque Dois Irmãos. Traders received telephone and in-person threats demanding payment of R$1.50 per bottle sold.

One of the CV's "fronts" was identified as Mikael Melo Moreira, aka "Mixaria". He would be responsible for collecting the charges and would have started extorting the traders after authorization from the head of the CV in Rosalina, identified as Daniel Oliveira da Silva, aka “Daniel Trator”. Mikael had previously been described as Daniel's bodyguard.

According to information from the police investigation, reports from residents and traders indicated that Daniel had "leased" control of the area to Mikael, who then began carrying out the collections with the support of the other suspects.

During Friday's operation, the Civil Police found Mikael and three other men transporting bottles in a car. One of them would be a merchant identified as Francisco Emídio de Araújo, Mikael's brother-in-law, who, according to the Public Security Secretariat, worked "in collusion" with Mikael to control the sale of water in the community.

"There are indications that, through threats to traders, the faction began to decide who can sell mineral water in entire communities, at what price and from which supplier, appropriating the population's access to a good essential to life, in a state context in which the same practice led to the suspension of deliveries in neighborhoods of this Capital and in municipalities in the interior, resulting in, in Banabuiú, the need for police escort for the sale of water", highlighted the court of the District of Fortaleza that held the hearing of custody.

When approaching the vehicle, Mikael, Francisco Emídio and two other men who were working on delivering and unloading the bottles were arrested. Mikael has a record of illegal possession of a firearm, illegal possession of a permitted firearm, drug trafficking and receiving possession. Emídio has a history of reception.

Daniel Oliveira, the head of the CV at Rosalina, was detained at a residence in the municipality of Horizonte. Daniel has a record of homicide, illegal possession of a firearm, drug trafficking, robbery, among other crimes. At the time of his arrest, he was wearing an electronic ankle bracelet.

The Civil Police also seized around 80 bottles of mineral water, three cars and a cart used to tow one of the vehicles, cell phones and a sum of money. The men were charged with being part of a criminal organization, under the terms of the new Anti-Faction Law, for structured social dominance.

Extortion in Ceará

In October, in the municipality of Banabuiú, dozens of residents had to queue up to buy 20-liter bottles of water to drink, escorted by police officers. The situation reached this point after local traders stopped selling water due to threats and extortion from the Comando Vermelho faction, under orders from the community of Rocinha, in Rio de Janeiro.

After g1 and TV Verdes Mares reported the situation in Banabuiú, residents of other locations began to report similar cases where they lived. Cases were reported in neighborhoods of Fortaleza, in addition to the cities of Meruoca and Caridade - the latter city, in fact, is the same one that, in 2025, was left without internet due to faction attacks.

In the city of Meruoca, around 250 kilometers from Fortaleza, witnesses say that, faced with constant threats from criminals to local businesses, residents began to fetch water from wells and fountains.