HomeNewsBriefPolice Documents Reveal 'Hezbollah Ties' to Brazil's PCC
BRIEF

Police Documents Reveal 'Hezbollah Ties' to Brazil's PCC

BRAZIL / 10 NOV 2014 BY KYRA GURNEY EN

Police documents reportedly revealed links between Hezbollah and a Brazilian prison gang, providing further fodder for claims that the Islamic militia group has ties to criminal organizations in Latin America.

According to federal police documents obtained by O Globo, Lebanese traffickers linked to Hezbollah -- who are based where the Brazilian, Paraguayan, and Argentine frontiers meet -- have helped Brazilian prison gang the First Capital Command (PCC) obtain weapons. In exchange for protecting prisoners of Lebanese origin detained in Brazil, the Lebanese traffickers reportedly provide the PCC with access to international arms smuggling channels. Additionally, the documents reportedly said that the Lebanese traffickers helped sell C4 explosives that the PCC allegedly stole in Paraguay.  

According to O Globo, the documents indicated that the association between Lebanese traffickers and the PCC began in 2006, but was only discovered by police in 2008.

InSight Crime Analysis

Allegations that Hezbollah has ties to criminals operating in the tri-border region date back to at least 2006, when the US Treasury Department identified nine individuals in the area accused of providing Hezbollah with financial and logistical support. Several of the individuals on the list were identified as drug traffickers and arms dealers, but according to the Treasury Department their support of Hezbollah was limited mainly to operating a fundraising network.

The Brazilian government has never officially confirmed the US Treasury Department's assertions, but the documents obtained by O Globo indicate that the country's police have also uncovered evidence linking Hezbollah to Brazilian groups. Allegations that Lebanese traffickers with ties to Hezbollah have helped the PCC obtain weapons and sell explosives are especially troubling, as they indicate that the Islamic group's links in the country may go far beyond fundraising.

SEE ALSO: Brazil News and Profiles

There have been other reports of Hezbollah working with criminal groups in Latin America, but most appear to be largely unsubstantiated. In 2011, US authorities revealed an alleged plot by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards to pay Zetas members to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Washington DC, although as InSight Crime has previously noted, the story is not very convincing. US authorities have also accused a Lebanese man of selling cocaine to the Zetas and sending the profits to Hezbollah, and Israeli media reported in 2012 that the Islamic militia group had set up a training base in Nicaragua. 

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Tags

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BRAZIL / 16 JAN 2023

Record seizures of cocaine in Portugal have raised fears Brazil's PCC may be getting increasingly involved.

BRAZIL / 7 OCT 2022

Latin America's environmental and land protectors are routinely murdered by the regions criminals.

BRAZIL / 16 JUN 2021

Rio de Janeiro’s foremost militia leader has been gunned down by police, potentially shattering the belief that militias in the…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…