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 MAR 2022

Rocco Morabito’s story has all the makings of a great film script. The Italian mob, tons of cocaine, exotic destinations,…

BRAZIL / 27 MAY 2022

Cocaine seizures have jumped at the Guarulhos International Airport near São Paulo, Brazil, showing that neither COVID-19 nor international law…

BRAZIL / 28 JUN 2022

Prosecutors, mayors, prison directors, relatives of officials - are assassinations here to stay in Paraguay?…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report continues to be a reference in the region

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Paraguay Election Coverage Draws Attention 

5 MAY 2023

InSight Crime looked at the various anti-organized crime policies proposed by the candidates in Paraguay’s presidential election, which was won on April 30 by Santiago Peña. Our pre-election coverage was cited…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in OAS, CARICOM Reports

28 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s work was cited nine times in a new report by the Organization of American States (OAS) titled “The Impact of Organized Crime on Women,…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Staff Cited as Experts by International Media

21 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime deputy editor, Juan Diego Posada, was interviewed by the Associated Press about connections between the ex-FARC mafia and Brazilian criminal groups, and…