(Brasilia) The Brazilian Federal Police (PF) announced on Thursday that it has launched a new operation targeting suspects who allegedly took part in an illegal spy network during the term of the ex-president of the extreme right Jair Bolsonaro.
The PF explained in a statement that five people were targeted by an arrest warrant and that seven search warrants had also been issued, on the orders of the Supreme Court.
The statement said the operation was taking place in five Brazilian states, including the capital Brasilia, but did not reveal the names of the people targeted or whether the suspects had already been arrested.
In February, the PF raided a residence where the Bolsonaro family was staying in the seaside town of Angra dos Reis, near Rio de Janeiro, as part of the same investigation linked to this spy scandal.
The police also went to addresses linked to Carlos Bolsonaro, the second son of the former far-right president (2019-2022).
Carlos Bolsonaro is suspected of having coordinated under his father’s presidency a “hate cabinet”, a “digital militia” responsible for denigrating opponents on social networks and disseminating false information.
According to several Brazilian media outlets, the people targeted by Thursday’s operation are influencers and police officers who worked for the Brazilian intelligence agency Abin.
According to the PF, this “criminal organization” created “false profiles” of “members of the three powers and journalists” on the networks and disseminated false information.
The police also reported “illegal” surveillance of personalities through access to information on computers or mobile phones.
The scandal erupted in October, when the first of four police operations linked to the case resulted in the arrest of two Abin officials suspected of illegally using Israeli spyware FirstMile.
Acquired by the Brazilian government at the end of 2018, shortly before Jair Bolsonaro came to power, this software allows the geolocation of individuals through the signal emitted by their mobile phones.
In January, another operation targeted Alexandre Ramagem, former head of Abin and trusted man of the ex-president, now a deputy.
At the time, the judicial document that authorized the searches targeting Mr. Ramagem mentioned a “criminal group” that had created a “parallel structure” within the Abin, to “illegally monitor people and public authorities.”
Jair Bolsonaro, the target of numerous other investigations, says he is a victim of political persecution. “They want my head,” he said after the police operation in February.