In a statement to the Federal Police, the president of the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro, Rodrigo Bacellar, denied being a friend of former state deputy TH Joias, arrested in September for drug trafficking, corruption, money laundering and involvement with Comando Vermelho.
Bacellar was arrested last Wednesday (3) suspected of warning the then parliamentarian about the operation to arrest him.
“I had never seen [TH Joias] in life [antes de ele entrar na Alerj]. I built a natural relationship, I am President of Parliament, I have to serve everyone without distinction. [Mas a relação era] only professional and only within that scope of the Assembly”, said Bacellar in a statement to the PF, revealed by Fantástico, on TV Globo, this Sunday (7).
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Bacellar admitted to having spoken to TH Joias on the eve of the operation to arrest the then deputy.
“[Ele] He asks to speak to me alone, in the corner: ‘Do you know of any operations tomorrow for me?’. I said, ‘I don’t know anything. There has been gossip in the House for three days that there will be some problem this week for the deputy, wherever the smoke is.’ Then he says: ‘No, cool, I don’t know what I’m going to do if I’m going to leave’. ‘That’s up to you. If I were in your place, I would only worry about your little daughter. Now you have to know what you do or stop doing,’” the president of Alerj told the PF.
On the eve of TH Joias’ arrest, the two also exchanged messages. TH sent Bacellar a video showing a freezer with meat and said: “Oh, president! There’s no way to take it, brother. Wow, how can you take it?! There’s no way to take it, brother. These sons of bitches are going to steal the meat, huh.” The president of Alerj replied: “Leave it, crazy person”. Bacellar also received images of the Federal Police inside his home from TH himself.
Asked by the Federal Police if he didn’t think about warning the authorities about TH Joias’s chance of escaping, Bacellar replied: “I didn’t look for anyone at all. I’m not here to turn in a colleague, I’m not here to protect a colleague who does something wrong.” “I confess that I was even scared. I thought it was an act of impertinence on his part, calling me from a phone number that I didn’t have.” The president of Alerj claimed that he did not know who the operation was for.
suspicions against TH Joias before his arrest. “I had already heard some things in the newspaper, but I didn’t know anything about it. People say it’s linked to the command, whatever. Look, I don’t want to know what you did, what you don’t do. From the door in, if you get along well with everyone, what you do on the street doesn’t concern me.”
‘TH Jewels’ Case
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Suspected of trading weapons and accessories for the Red Command, Thiego Raimundo dos Santos Silva, known as TH Joias, was arrested in a luxury condominium in Barra da Tijuca, in the west zone of Rio, in September.
According to the investigation, TH used his position as state deputy to favor organized crime. He is accused of intermediating the purchase and sale of drugs, rifles and anti-drone equipment destined for the Complexo do Alemão, in addition to nominating the wife of Gabriel Dias de Oliveira, the Índio do Lixão – identified as a drug trafficker and also arrested – for a parliamentary position.
During Operation Zargun, in September, the PF executed 18 preventive arrest warrants and 22 search and seizure warrants, in addition to the seizure of assets totaling R$40 million, issued by the Federal Regional Court of the 2nd Region. The investigation was carried out by the Narcotics Repression Department, the PF, and the Federal Public Ministry.
