“Portugal seems very attractive to me. The same language, a very peaceful country, good quality of life, easy flights to Brazil. I think it’s a very attractive scenario for these people, for these operators,” said the expert in public security and crime prevention in Brazil and abroad, following the arrest last week in Cascais of Brazilian Ygor Daniel Zago, 44, an international drug trafficker known as “Hulk” linked to the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), a powerful organized crime group originating in São Paulo and spreading across the country, continent, and even into Europe.
“He is considered one of the biggest international traffickers in Brazil, with an Interpol warrant issued a long time ago,” summarized the international advisor of the Brazilian Public Security Forum.
This PCC member and his wife were detained last week under two international arrest warrants issued by Brazil for offenses of criminal association, corruption, and money laundering, as informed by the Portuguese Judicial Police (PJ) last Saturday.
The pair remain in preventive custody by decision of the Lisbon Court of Appeal, currently awaiting extradition proceedings, according to a source involved in the process.
“The proceedings of the potential extradition depend on the means of cooperation between countries and are being monitored for the usual process already underway,” stated the São Paulo State Public Prosecutor’s Office, adding that once Brazilian authorities realized the suspects were outside the national territory, “they requested that the arrest warrant be included in the Interpol red notice.”
According to Nivio Nascimento, this case proves that “crime is not only in the territory, is not in the slum.”
It demonstrates that there are several criminals leading normal lives, especially those in charge of money laundering and financing.
“It is an activity that does not need to be in the slum; [the criminal] can be anywhere, especially in the global society we live in today, hyper-connected,” said the expert.
Formed in São Paulo’s prisons in the 1990s, the PCC expanded its activities and now controls motels, gas stations, and even fintech companies used for laundering narcotics trafficking money.
Nascimento praised the joint work between Portugal and Brazil in this case, noting that “this is one of the obstacles; these people working for these illicit economies end up moving from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and managing to escape.”
“And it’s good that this arrest was made, showing a bit of a change in addressing organized crime in Brazil,” he added.
For Nivio Nascimento, this should be the model for fighting organized crime, as opposed to the operation on October 28 in the Penha and Alemão slum complexes in Rio de Janeiro, where at least 121 people died, and the main target, one of the leaders of the Comando Vermelho faction, Edgard Alves, known as “Doca,” managed to escape.
“There is no need for operations like we saw in Rio de Janeiro. We’ve only seen crime grow with this approach over the last 40 years,” he said.
The national director of the Portuguese PJ admitted on Tuesday that the number of people linked to Brazilian drug trafficking groups like the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) may have increased in Portugal.
Speaking to journalists at the PJ headquarters in Lisbon, Luís Neves addressed the presence of members of criminal organizations linked to drug trafficking in Portugal, confirming that the man arrested last week in Cascais is ‘Hulk,’ a member of the PCC.
Regarding the presence of members of such Brazilian organizations in Portuguese territory, Luís Neves acknowledged that the number “probably may have increased” and explained that this phenomenon can be attributed to various factors: the pressure exerted by Brazilian authorities in combating drug trafficking, the proximity between the two countries, and the language issue.
