World · Latin America · 2 hrs ago
Study finds some Comando Vermelho ammunition came from public institutions
A study examined 31,699 rifle cartridges linked to the Comando Vermelho in 29 court cases from 2018 to 2025.
Of the factory-made cartridges whose country of manufacture could be identified, 40.9% were made in Brazil.
More than half of those Brazilian cartridges had codes indicating they were originally bought by the armed forces or public security institutions.
Such ammunition later left state control, but the study could not establish where it was diverted.
Researchers identified 119 institutional tracking codes, but linked only 34 to the institution that bought the ammunition.
The study says restricted access to buyer information and limited tracing in investigations make it difficult to identify the source of the diversion; it could not determine which public institution contributed most.
A 2023 request for information was partly answered for sales to the Army, while other information was still pending more than three years later.
A study found that some ammunition linked to Comando Vermelho had originally been bought by Brazil’s armed forces or public security institutions.
The Sou da Paz Institute analyzed 31,699 cartridges linked to the faction in 29 court cases from 2018 to 2025.
Of 31,205 factory-made cartridges examined for country of manufacture, 40.9% were Brazilian.
Among the Brazilian-made cartridges, 51.9% had institutional traceability codes, but most codes could not be linked to the legal buyer.
The study said its sample does not show which public institution contributed the most ammunition to crime.
- Who
- Comando Vermelho and the Sou da Paz Institute, which conducted the study.
- What
- The study found that some ammunition linked to the faction had originally been acquired by public institutions.
- When
- The cases examined date from 2018 to 2025. The article was published on October 12, 2026.
- Where
- Brazil.
- Why
- The study said some ammunition acquired by public institutions had left state control; it did not establish where most diversions occurred.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Brazil has a problem with the storage and control of ammunition sold to the armed forces and police that ends up diverted into the hands of organized crime.
We are talking about ammunition bought with public money, and whose diversion is corruption, a form of corruption with a very significant consequence for strengthening organized crime.
The study examined ammunition linked to Comando Vermelho in 29 court cases from this period.
One traced ammunition lot had been bought and delivered to the Brazilian Army’s 22nd Supply Depot in Barueri.
The Sou da Paz Institute filed an information-access request for data on traceability codes and buyers.
The report said court records still contained no information on tracing the cited lots or investigating where they were diverted.
CNN Brasil published its report on the study.
- Cartridges analyzed
- 31,699 linked to Comando Vermelho across 29 court cases
- Factory-made cartridges
- 31,205 examined for country of manufacture
- Brazilian-made share
- 40.9% of factory-made cartridges examined
- Institutional traceability
- 51.9% of the Brazilian-made cartridges had institutional codes
- Codes identified
- 119; 34 were linked to the purchasing institution and 85 had no identifiable legal buyer
- Traced lot
- Bought in 2022 and delivered to the 22nd Supply Depot in Barueri, São Paulo metropolitan area
Sources
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