A civil police officer, suspected of participating in a vehicle insurance fraud scheme, was arrested by the Rio de Janeiro Public Ministry (MPRJ) this Thursday (1).
The arrest was carried out during Operation Lástima, launched by the Specialized Action Group to Combat Organized Crime with the 4th Specialized Criminal Investigation Prosecutor’s Office of the MPRJ.
The operation is fulfilling two arrest warrants and four search and seizure warrants in the cities of Niterói, Benfica and Barra do Piraí, all in Rio de Janeiro. The identity of the detained police officer has not been revealed.
The investigation is looking into the crimes of criminal association, fraud to receive insurance money, embezzlement, diversion and insertion of false data into the Civil Police system.
The target is a criminal group made up of the arrested police officer, stationed at the 24th Police District (Piedade), a businessman in the vehicle industry and a former employee of a vehicle service provider. The former employee previously managed the Legal Patio of the Automobile Theft and Robbery Division of the Rio Civil Police, according to investigators.
The action also had the participation of the Rio de Janeiro Civil Police Internal Affairs Department.
Understand the scheme
According to the MPRJ, the criminals recruited people with financial difficulties to fake the theft of their cars. The goal was to obtain compensation from insurance companies by making false reports of vehicle theft.
Investigations indicate that the arrested agent registered 173 occurrences of vehicle theft by the 24th DP in 2023. This means that, of the 471 cases documented by the police station last year, around 37% were carried out by just one police officer.
The MPRJ highlights that the suspect had a work schedule of one day on and three days off (24 hours for 72 hours) and recorded robberies even during his vacations.
The agency also reveals that the documentation was carried out without the presence of the alleged victim, including forged signatures.
The police officer was responsible for mediating the illegal negotiation with vehicle owners who wanted to “redeem their insurance”. The Civil Police Internal Affairs Unit has already investigated at least four false reports of car thefts, in which the owners confessed to the entire fraudulent scheme.
The state’s Public Prosecutor’s Office continues the investigation to identify the possibility of other police members participating in the scheme.
Furthermore, it is still unknown what is done with the vehicles. There are indications that the cars are dismantled or modified to be sold at auction.
Source: CNN Brasil
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