The opened an internal investigation into the possible use of battalion vehicles at the end of 2022, after the victory of () over () in the presidential election. Suspicions were raised by .
The investigation is conducted by the leadership of the “black kids”, headed by General Andrelucio Ricardo Couto. All subordinate battalions are targets of the investigation.
According to generals interviewed by Sheetthe Army has also analyzed in recent days the records of entry and exit of weapons from the Goiânia battalions — in particular, from the .
The check was carried out because the PF revealed that the plan to kill authorities included the use of weapons, such as the AT-4 rocket launcher.
Military personnel record the movement of weapons in the magazine daily. The data collected so far has shown that there is no evidence that weapons were improperly left the barracks during the period in which the coup plot was discussed at the end of 2022, according to reports.
Thus, the internal assessment was that it was not necessary to formalize an inquiry into the irregular departure of weapons, as there is no suspicion that the crime had occurred.
The Army confirmed, in a statement, the opening of the investigation into the cars. “An administrative procedure was initiated in order to verify compliance with regulatory measures for the use of vehicles within the scope of that Military Organization.”
Suspicions about the use of vehicles from the 1st Command Action Battalion arose after the PF identified that a black Fiat Palio made the same journey to and from Goiânia at the same time as Lieutenant Colonel Rafael’s car. Martins de Oliveira.
Rafael was identified by the PF as one of six members of a group that worked with retired general Mario Fernandes to execute a plan to arrest or kill the minister of the (Supreme Federal Court).
The plan would be executed on the night of December 15, 2022, according to the evidence in the PF report. In the late afternoon of that day, Rafael took his car and left Goiânia towards Brasília. The battalion car did the same.
The Triunfo dealership, responsible for BR 060, made a report that shows that the cars passed through the same stretch of highway six minutes apart in the early evening of the 15th.
Around 9pm, and those involved in the coup plot announced in the “Copa 2022” group, on the Signal app, that they should demobilize. Rafael’s car is again spotted by Triunfo returning to Goiânia at 0:07 am on December 16 — the battalion’s vehicle passes the same point 32 seconds later.
The cameras installed on BR 060 recorded four images of the Army battalion’s Fiat Palio passing along the highway. It is possible to see at least two people inside the car.
“The analysis of toll booth traffic on the BR-060 highway showed that the Palio vehicle belonging to BAC traveled the same route and at times close to Rafael de Oliveira’s private vehicle, both in the Goiânia-Brasília direction and in the return direction, demonstrating one moving together”, says the PF in an investigation report.
The PF did not identify the soldiers who used the vehicle. Investigators are still trying to discover the identities of four of the six suspected of carrying out the plan against Moraes, which ended in frustration.
The investigation found another six Army vehicles that traveled the Goiânia-Brasília route in the last months of 2022 and requested data from the Force on the routes and the soldiers who used the cars. The Army investigates the information to send it.
Another strategy adopted by the Federal Police to discover the identity of the suspects was to go, at the beginning of October this year, to a pharmacy in the Southwest, in the central area of Brasília.
There are records that four cell phones used by the scammers in the “Copa 2022” group, where they organized the attacks, received credits in a purchase made at the pharmacy on December 9, 2022.
Each phone received R$20 in credit, and payment was made in cash. Investigators were unable to access the security camera images because the records are erased every 15 days, to avoid overloading storage.
