Brazil police probe Bolsonaro's ex-intel chief for illegal spying

January 26, 2024
MNA International By AFP

Brazilian police raided the home and offices of former president Jair Bolsonaro’s ex-intelligence chief Thursday in an investigation into accusations of illegal spying on behalf of the far-right leader and his inner circle.

Officials said police had executed search and seizure warrants targeting 12 suspects, including Alexandre Ramagem, the former director of the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin), who is now a federal lawmaker for Bolsonaro’s Liberal Party.

The raids were authorized by Supreme Court justice and electoral court chief Alexandre de Moraes, who was himself an alleged target of the spying.

“Federal police have identified the existence of a criminal organization set up to illegally monitor individuals and public authorities… without judicial authorization,” the Supreme Court said in a statement.

Police said they had executed search and seizure warrants at 21 locations in the capital, Brasilia, the southeastern state of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, Ramagem’s hometown, where Bolsonaro is backing Ramagem as a mayoral candidate in elections this October.

“Investigations indicate a criminal group created a parallel structure within Abin and used its tools and services for illicit acts, producing information for political and media purposes, for personal gain and to interfere in federal police investigations,” police said in a statement.

According to court documents, investigators allege Abin used Israeli surveillance software known as FirstMile, which tracks cell phone geolocation data, to spy on hundreds of politicians and other figures during Bolsonaro’s presidency (2019-2022).

Suspected targets of the alleged illegal spying included Moraes, fellow Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes, former lower-house speaker Rodrigo Maia and then-Ceara state governor Camilo Santana, who is now President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s education minister.

More:
https://www.macaubusiness.com/brazil-police-probe-bolsonaros-ex-intel-chief-for-illegal-spying/