One of the world's largest arms traffickers, João Filipe Barbieri, has been recaptured in Brazil, police confirmed, five months after he escaped from prison using a forged early release document. Barbieri was convicted for his role in a gang that smuggled hundreds of rifles from the United States, concealed in swimming pool equipment.
Barbieri was found at his mother's house in a slum near Rio de Janeiro. He is the stepson of the gang leader, known as the 'Lord of Weapons'. The gang was caught in 2017 after a container with 60 military-style rifles, dispatched from Miami, was intercepted at Rio's international airport. Authorities say the arms were sold to drug traffickers operating in many of Rio's favelas.
Barbieri, considered a key gang member, was convicted of charges including arms trafficking and sentenced to 27 years in prison. However, in November 2020, he walked out of a high-security prison in Rio after forging a court document that appeared to order his early release.
He spent time in three different states but ran out of money, police chief Mauro César told a news conference after his arrest. Barbieri returned to Rio to claim an estimated 500,000 reais (£65,000; $90,000) in debts owed to him by drug traffickers, but he was already under police surveillance. He was arrested in a police operation on Wednesday in the city of Niterói, 9km from Rio.
Barbieri's stepfather, Frederick Barbieri, was arrested in the US in 2017 after the arms shipment was intercepted. He admitted to smuggling more than 1,000 rifles to Brazil between 2014 and 2017 and is now serving a 13-year prison sentence in Miami.
