Brazilian federal agents have conducted a search on the residence and workplaces of the country’s former president Jair Bolsonaro’s spy chief. This is part of an ongoing investigation into the suspected unlawful surveillance of numerous individuals, including two supreme court judges and a prominent supporter of the current president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Alexandre Ramagem, previously the head of Brazil’s intelligence agency Abin under President Bolsonaro from 2019-2022, was under investigation for his involvement in a “criminal organization” that allegedly utilized Israeli spy technology to monitor Bolsonaro’s political opponents.
According to reports, authorities confiscated six cell phones, four laptops, and 20 data storage devices from Ramagem’s residence in the city of Brasília. Among the items seized were a phone and laptop that belonged to Abin, who is no longer employed. Additionally, computers and documents were also taken from his office.
Ramagem, a 51-year-old member of the Liberal party and congressman for Bolsonaro’s right-wing party, did not provide a response to the raids that took place on Thursday. Bolsonaro referred to these actions as “unrelenting persecution”.
According to reports from Brazilian media, there is an ongoing investigation centered around a covert department within Abin that was supposedly established during Bolsonaro’s presidency. This unit, known as the National Intelligence Centre, was reportedly formed in July 2020 with the purpose of collecting intelligence on perceived risks to the security and stability of the state. It has been reported by Folha de São Paulo that the unit was staffed by federal police officers who were connected to Ramagem and the Bolsonaro family, earning the nickname “parallel intelligence agency” in Brazil.
The federal police have suspicions that a group, known as Abin’s “tracking gang,” used FirstMile, a spying software created by the Israeli company Cognyte, to unlawfully gather information on government adversaries.
The website of the company, headquartered in Tel Aviv, focuses on “threat intelligence analytics” and provides “analytics solutions that equip investigation and SOC teams with practical information for identifying and addressing threats efficiently.”
According to reports, FirstMile can be utilized to monitor the location of targets’ mobile devices and tablets by entering their contact numbers into the system.
Cognyte did not promptly reply to the Guardian’s request for a comment. The chief of staff for Ramagem stated that the politician has not yet made a statement regarding the police operation. When asked if Ramagem denied allegations of involvement in illegal surveillance operations, the chief of staff did not respond.
Earlier this month, the leader of Brazil’s federal police, Andrei Rodrigues, spoke to GloboNews and stated that approximately 30,000 individuals were monitored without legal permission by the group. Rodrigues also revealed that data on the locations of these targets was kept in data centers located in Israel.
Most of the group’s alleged targets have yet to be identified, although they reportedly include civil servants, journalists, judges, lawyers, politicians and police officers. But on Thursday newspaper reports suggested they included two supreme court judges, Alexandre de Moraes and Gilmar Mendes, and Camilo Santana, a former state governor from Lula’s leftwing Workers’ party. Santana became education minister last January after Lula beat Bolsonaro in the 2022 presidential election.
Moraes, Mendes, and Santana were vocal opponents of Bolsonaro and his extreme right-wing government. O Globo stated that investigators found a document proposing a plan to collect information that would falsely connect the two supreme court justices to a criminal organization, in order to spread false information and undermine their credibility.
According to Metrópoles, another individual who was targeted was Rodrigo Maia, the previous leader of Brazil’s lower house. Maia stated, “I am not shocked.”
In Mexico, a large number of individuals, such as activists, scholars, reporters, diplomats, and government officials, were identified as potential subjects for the spying technology developed by the NSO Group, known as Pegasus. According to the Guardian’s report in late 2022, journalists and advocates for human rights were still being targeted as recently as 2021. Activists claim that this same software has been utilized to surveil and target journalists and human rights advocates in El Salvador.
Experts in politics stated that the police’s actions against Ramagem could greatly harm Bolsonaro’s image. He is currently under scrutiny for various issues that arose during his tumultuous four-year term and has been disqualified from running for office until 2030 due to spreading false information. A well-known journalist described the raids as a “major shakeup” that has disrupted Bolsonaro’s political plans. Another source suggested that Bolsonaro’s supporters are feeling uneasy about the possible consequences of this scandal.
Bolsonaro’s plan was to nominate Ramagem as a potential candidate for Rio’s upcoming mayoral election in October. He hoped to use the former intelligence officer’s law enforcement experience to promote a tough “law and order” platform in a city that has long been plagued by rampant and heavily armed violence.
In the previous month, Ramagem traveled to El Salvador alongside politician Eduardo Bolsonaro, who is the son of Jair Bolsonaro, to tour a “megaprison” that was built by the country’s populist leader, Nayib Bukele. This prison can hold up to 40,000 people and is part of Bukele’s efforts to combat gang activity.
Source: theguardian.com
