Since last Tuesday (14), at least 252 attacks by criminals have been carried out in Rio Grande do Norte, according to Sesed (State Secretariat for Public Security and Social Defense). The survey does not include the attacks this Saturday (18), which would have been seven until 12 pm.

Sesed stated that attacks are on the decline. On Tuesday, 103 criminal acts were registered. On Wednesday (15), the number dropped to 67 and, on Thursday (16), to 56. On Friday (17), a criminal police officer was killed in São Gonçalo do Amarante, in the metropolitan region of Natal.

According to the Potiguar Public Ministry, the attacks have relationship with a union of factions that claim changes in conditions in prisons of State. An inspection carried out at the end of last year by the federal body Mecanismo Nacional de Combate à Tortura pointed out the practice of physical and psychological torture in the units, with punishments and provision of rotten food.

On Friday night (17), the federal government transferred nine prisoners from the Rogério Coutinho prison, in large northern riverfor the federal penitentiary system.

The action is a response to a series of attacks that have been taking place in the state since the beginning of the week.

In a note, the federal government explained that the transfer took place at the request of the Public Ministry of the State of Rio Grande do Norte and the state government.

The transferred prisoners were convicted of murder and drug trafficking. With the change, they can go to any of the five federal prisons: Campo Grande (MS), Catanduvas (PR), Mossoró (RN), Porto Velho (RO) and Brasília (DF).

In the federal penal system, detainees are isolated in individual cells and have their visits monitored.

The nine transfers were not the first since the attacks began. José Kemps Pereira de Araújo, leader of a criminal faction and suspected of orchestrating the acts, was transferred on Wednesday (15) from the state penitentiary of Alcaçuz to the federal prison of Mossoró.

Until the beginning of this Saturday (18), 455 public security agents were provided by to support the work of state forces. Reinforcements were sent by the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, with support from the National Force, the Federal Highway Police, and the states of Ceará and Paraíba. More reinforcements are expected to arrive in the coming days.

Actions carried out by the security forces have so far resulted in 106 arrests, including 18 arrested in Operation Normandy, launched by the Civil Police and the Federal Police on Friday (17). In total, 31 weapons, 87 explosive devices, 23 gallons of gasoline, as well as vehicles, money, drugs and ammunition were seized.

dead criminal police

A criminal police officer was killed on Friday night in an attack in São Gonçalo do Amarante. Carlos Eduardo Nazário, 54, was off duty when he was approached by two men on a motorcycle. He was hit with three shots in the arm, leg and chest, while he was in a neighborhood trade.

The agent was rescued and taken to Hospital Santa Catarina, but died in the operating room. Military police carried out operations in the Jardim Lola region, where the crime took place, but did not locate the perpetrators.

Through social networks, the governor of the state, Fátima Bezerra (PT), stated that she toured neighborhoods of Natal during the night, accompanying the Military Police blitz and the work of the National Security Force, which was sent to provide support. The national secretary of Public Security, Tadeu Alencar, who arrived in the state on Friday, accompanied the governor.

Os attacks in Rio Grande do Norte affect at least 21 cities in the state. They consist of the destruction of public buildings and vehicles.

In São Gonçalo do Amarante, in the great Natal, the health department was set on fire and R$ 10 million in medicines were lost. Several buses were also burned in the Potiguar capital since Tuesday.