Police in Brazil arrested a fugitive international weapons dealer who was wanted for walking out of a local jail with early release documents that had been forged.
João Barbieri was apprehended without incident at his hideout at a slum in the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area on Wednesday afternoon.
Barbieri had only served three out of the 27 years he had been sentenced to in 2017, and somehow managed to obtain a forged court document that permitted him to leave the Gericinó Penitentiary Complex in Rio de Janeiro on November 18, 2020.
Surveillance video from the jail shows Barbieri carrying a document and being escorted out of the prison by a guard.
International weapons dealer João Barbieri was apprehended without incident at his hideout at a slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Wednesday afternoon. Barbieri had only served three out of the 27 years he had been sentenced to in 2017, but was able to obtain a forged court document that permitted him to leave the Gericinó Penitentiary Complex in Rio de Janeiro on November 18, 2020
Barbieri was initially arrested in August 2017 and had only served three years of a 27-year prison sentence for his role in the smuggling of rifles from Miami to Rio
Brazilian authorities launched a manhunt for the arms smuggler in January after a federal court in Rio de Janeiro first learned of Barbieri’s early release following a request made by judge Marcelo Granado – who presided over the trial – for additional information on Barbieri.
Granado also requested information on João Roza, an associate of Barbieri who was also being held at the same prison and who also managed to leave on October 14, 2020 through the use of a fake court document.
Investigators discovered the forged documents used by Barbieri and Roza contained the same code and processing number. The identification number for the release permits was also not valid.
Investigators also learned that the civil police officer who signed the documents and the bailiff who sent the papers to the jail did not exist.
At least five people suspected of producing the forged documents were arrested in March.
Authorities were also granted four arrest warrants for suspects that included lawyers and 16 search warrants.
Surveillance camera shows the moment João Barbieri walked out of prison with a fake court document that granted his early release in November 2020 despite serving only three years of a 27-year sentence
Police chief Mauro César told Brazilian online news portal G1 that João Barbieri evaded capture by moving between the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo. Barbieri then settled down in Rio de Janeiro, where drug smugglers owed him at least $90,000
Police chief Mauro César told Brazilian online news portal G1 that Barbieri evaded capture by moving between the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo.
Barbieri then finally settled in Rio de Janeiro, where drug smugglers owed him at least $90,000.
After several missed attempts, on Monday law enforcement acting on an anonymous tip detained Roza at a residence in the Rio de Janeiro city of Belford Roxo.
Authorities were also tipped off about Barbieri’s location and apprehended him at a home in Niteroí.
‘The recapture of these two federal prisoners proves to be extremely important. In addition to contributing greatly to the prestige and effectiveness of criminal executions in the State of Rio de Janeiro,’ Attorney General Eduardo Benones said, according to digital news outlet Metropoles.
‘It opens up new possibilities for federal investigations into arms trafficking and the consequent war supply of organized crime.’
Barbieri’s stepfather Frederick ‘Lord of the Arms’ Barbieri (pictured) in July 2018 received a 13-year prison sentence in Florida for smuggling more than 1,000 firearms from Miami to Rio de Janeiro
Pictured is a shipment of rifles that were seized at Galeão International Airport after agents discovered them inside four water heaters that had been shipped from Miami to Rio de Janeiro in May 2017
A scanner at Galeão International Airport in Rio de Janeiro displays some of the 60 AR-15 and AK-47 that were seized in a shipment sent from Miami to Rio de Janeiro by a firearms smuggling ring
Barbieri, who was initially arrested in August 2017, is the stepson of Frederick ‘Lord of the Arms’ Barbieri, who in July 2018 received a 13-year prison sentence in Florida for smuggling more than 1,000 firearms from Miami to Rio de Janeiro.
Federal prosecutors learned that the senior Barbieri, a Brazilian national who later became a naturalized American citizen, shipped military-style rifles with their serial numbers removed and that guns were also sold to drug traffickers and gangs in favelas or slums.
Frederick Barbieri drew the attention of U.S. federal agents after a shipment of four water heaters with 60 AR-15 and AK-47 rifles was busted at Galeão International Airport in Rio de Janeiro in May 2017.
