Brazil captures federal fugitives after 50-day chase

The two men who carried out the first-ever successful prison break from a federal maximum security penitentiary in Brazil were captured on Thursday, after spending 50 days on the run. 

The prison break was an embarrassment for federal law enforcement and underlined citizens’ perceptions of a security crisis in the country, as crime has risen to become the country’s top concern according to multiple pollsters.

The Justice Ministry shared video footage of the fugitives — who escaped from the Mossoró federal prison in the state of Rio Grande do Norte — being led to a Federal Police facility in Marabá, in the state of Pará, about 1,600 kilometers away.

“Today we have good news,” Justice Minister Ricardo Lewandowski told a press conference. “It’s reassuring news, in the sense that Brazilian society can count on competent law enforcement that fulfills its constitutional duties.”

Mr. Lewandowski said that Rogério Mendonça and Deibson Nascimento, members of the major Red Command organized crime group, were arrested on Thursday at about 1:30 pm at the BR-222 federal highway near the city of Marabá, located within the Brazilian Amazon. 

They escaped the Mossoró prison in the early hours of February 14, while millions of Brazilians were celebrating Ash Wednesday, which marks the end of the Carnival holiday.

The justice minister added that the distance between the locations of escape and arrest “obviously demonstrates” they were helped by other criminals and criminal organizations, and said that the fugitives were planning to leave Brazil.

Last Friday, a National Force unit composed of around 100 police officers from several states and led by the Justice Ministry ended its participation in the mission seeking the fugitives nearby the city of Mossoró.

Mr. Lewandowski said today that “we changed strategy” after learning that the fugitives were no longer near the prison. Law enforcement then prioritized intelligence-gathering over area searches.

Four other men were also detained today, by forming what Mr. Lewandowski called a “true convoy of crime,” composed of three cars. Police seized one rifle and several cell phones. No shots were fired. The two fugitives will return to the Mossoró federal prison, which has since undergone renovations and changes in rules and staffing.

“This is a victory for the Brazilian state,” Mr. Lewandowski said. “This demonstrates that organized crime will not be successful.”

The escape of the two Red Command members made massive headlines in Brazil and sparked a broader debate about the country’s prison system.

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