Officer in charge of Brasilia security on Jan. 8 arrested

BRASILIA/RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -Brazil’s federal police on Tuesday arrested the military police officer who led security operations in Brasilia on Jan. 8, when supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed government buildings, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Colonel Jorge Eduardo Naime was targeted by the fifth phase of an operation launched last month aimed at identifying people who participated in, funded or fostered the riots, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Naime, former head of the local police’s operations department, is suspected of omission in security planning, the sources added.

It was not immediately possible to contact Naime or his lawyers. Asked for details, federal police said they do not disclose names of people arrested or investigated.

They had confirmed in a statement earlier that fresh raids were carried out as part of the investigation into the Jan. 8 insurrection, when a mob invaded and ransacked the Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court.

They were protesting against Bolsonaro’s defeat by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in an October election and calling for a military coup to oust Lula and restore the far-right leader.

Police said they were serving three temporary detention warrants, one preventive arrest warrant and six search and seizure warrants in the federal district – where Brasilia is located – under Supreme Court orders.

Police added those targeted in the raids were investigated for the crimes of “violent abolition of the rule of law, coup d’état, qualified damage, criminal association, incitement, destruction and deterioration of specially protected property”.

(Reporting by Ricardo Brito in Brasilia and Rodrigo Viga Gaier in Rio de Janeiro; Writing by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Robert Birsel and Andrew Cawthorne)