Police investigate whether Army weapons were offered to the Rio faction

The Rio de Janeiro Civil Police is investigating whether some of the weapons that disappeared from the Army War Arsenal barracks in Barueri (SP) were offered to the Red Command. The suspicion arose after a video circulating on social media showed images of four large-caliber machine guns.

The Southeast Military Command has investigated the disappearance of 21 weapons since October 10th. A Military Police Inquiry was opened to investigate the circumstances of the theft, which lasts 40 days and is conducted under secrecy.

According to the Force, among the missing weapons, 13 are .50 machine guns (anti-aircraft) and eight are 7.62 caliber. The Army stated that the weapons are unusable and were collected for maintenance.

When fully operational, .50 machine guns have the ability to shoot down aircraft. This incident comes after two police helicopters were hit by drug traffickers in Rio this month.

Due to the disappearance of the weapons, soldiers and officers were prohibited from leaving the Army unit since the 10th. Around 40 soldiers were interviewed as part of the military inquiry.

To date, 160 military personnel remain on site to contribute to the necessary actions in the investigation, while another 320 who were authorized to leave continue to work and can return home at the end of the day.

The military quartering was initially activated in a state of “readiness”, usually used in situations that require rapid mobilization of troops. The Army reported that the situation evolved from “readiness to on-call”, which represents a reduction in the number of troops stationed.

The investigation into the theft is being conducted by the Department of Science and Technology of the Brazilian Army, with the support of the Southeast Military Command. Over the weekend, military personnel from Rio de Janeiro and the Federal District were at the Arsenal de Guerra as part of the investigation.