Gerson Palermo was captured in Santa Cruz de La Sierra after a joint operation between the PF and Bolivian police
Gerson Palermo was captured in the Santa Cruz de La Sierra region, in Bolivia, this Tuesday (May 26, 2026). Appointed as one of the main leaders of the PCC (First Command of the Capital), the drug trafficker had been on the run since April 15, 2020, when he left a maximum security prison in Campo Grande (MS) after obtaining house arrest.
The capture resulted from a joint operation between the Brazilian Federal Police and the Bolivian Special Force to Combat Drug Trafficking. The commander of the Bolivian force, David Gómez, said that Palermo will be expelled from Bolivian territory.
“Due to the exchange of information, at this moment the Bolivian Anti-Drug Trafficking Force is talking to the migration teams to grant the mandatory departure order and, subsequently, expel him from our country and hand him over to the Brazilian police”said the commander in an interview with journalists.
David Gómez said that the criminal was found through exchanges of information between the 2 countries.
“He [Palermo] there was no case here in Bolivia, but he was hiding, he was running away from Brazilian justice in our country”he stated.
LEAK
The escape was on April 15, 2020. Palermo got a you have corpus during a judicial shift in Mato Grosso do Sul. The then judge Divoncir Maran signed the decision that granted the drug dealer house arrest in less than 40 minutes. Approximately 5 hours after leaving the maximum security prison in Campo Grande, Palermo broke his electronic ankle bracelet.
Judge Divoncir Maran was by the National Council of Justice in February 2026. He received compulsory retirement for having authorized Palermo’s house arrest.
Palermo had been sentenced to 126 years in prison for crimes such as international drug trafficking and hijacking a plane, in August 2000. The aircraft was a Vasp Boeing 727/200 and went from Foz do Iguaçu to Curitiba, both cities in Paraná. Palermo and his gang forced the pilot to land in Porecatu (PR), where they stole approximately R$5.5 million in pouches from Banco do Brasil.
