The Brazilian Federal Revenue Service and the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) launched this Friday, the 10th, a cooperation program to combat transnational organized crime, through the sharing of information in real time between the agencies.
“The cooperation is part of the context of the dialogue between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and is part of a broader agenda of bilateral cooperation aimed at combating transnational organized crime,” said the Ministry of Finance, in a statement.
The initiative, called Project MIT (Mutual Interdiction Team), aims to integrate intelligence efforts and joint operations to intercept illicit shipments of weapons and drugs between countries.
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With the agreement, the Desarma Program was also launched, a computerized IRS system that expands the capacity for international tracking of weapons and sensitive materials.
This initiative allows the sharing, in real time, of information between countries, whenever Brazilian customs identifies products of American origin related to weapons, ammunition, parts, components, explosives and other sensitive items and vice versa. With this, the idea is to allow the authorities of each country to act when the shipment of an illegal product is identified.
“The information shared may include data on exporters, senders and other operators involved in the operations, always within the limits of international agreements signed by Brazil and with the guarantee of confidential, safe and traceable treatment of information”, informed the Ministry of Finance.
The system can be used both in seizures at ports and airports and in international shipments, special inspection operations and integrated actions with other investigative bodies, expanding the Brazilian State’s response capacity.
Revenue records indicate that the system can identify, connect and track international flows of illicit weapons. In the last 12 months, 35 incidents were identified, with the seizure of 1,168 parts and pieces (around 550 kg), sent mainly from Florida (USA) using fraudulent declarations and concealment methods.
The consolidation of this information into a structured base makes it possible to identify patterns, links between senders and recipients and recurring routes, according to the agency.
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The Desarma model can also work to combat other crimes, such as drug trafficking. Data from Guarulhos Airport indicate an increase in seizures, from 89 kg in 2024 to 1,562 kg in the first three months of 2026.
Durigan meeting in the USA
Finance Minister Dario Durigan said this Friday that he may meet with US officials next week, when he will be in Washington for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). So far, a meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has not been confirmed, he added.
“We don’t have an agenda, but there is interest in having conversations about increasing international cooperation between Brazil and the United States on my trip next week,” said Durigan, at the press conference about a partnership between the two countries to track weapons and drugs.
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Conversation between Lula and Trump helped in the partnership
According to the minister, the partnership announced this Friday was only possible because of a conversation between the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and his counterpart in the United States, Donald Trump.
Durigan said he hopes that cooperation between the countries will advance, with new actions aimed at the traceability of weapons and ammunition, for example, already under discussion.
He also stated that he did not discuss with the North American authorities the possibility of classifying Brazilian criminal organizations as terrorists by the United States.
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