Int’l Arms Trafficking Network Operating From the U.S. to Brazil Falls

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Brazil Federal Police partnership resulted in the binational arrests of key members of a major Transnational Criminal Organization (TCO) responsible for international weapons trafficking, and numerous other transnational crimes.

On June 1, four arrest warrants and eight search and seizure warrants were carried out in the cities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro by Brazilian authorities, while one arrest warrant for a U.S.-based TCO member was simultaneously executed in Orlando, Florida by HSI Miami and HSI Orlando as part of Operation Iron Tire.

The Operation Iron Tire arrests were possible due to extensive coordination and cooperation efforts between U.S. and Brazilian law enforcement. The investigation uncovered a shipment of hundreds of firearm accessories from the United States to Brazil by the TCO, passing through the International Airports in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo to supply the largest and most dangerous transnational criminal organization in Brazil, the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC).