A Brazilian former police chief convicted over his role in the attempted coup linked to ex president Jair Bolsonaro has been arrested in Paraguay after fleeing Brazil, authorities confirmed on Friday.
Paraguayan immigration officials said Silvinei Vasques was detained at Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Asuncion while attempting to board a flight out of the country. He was later handed over to Brazilian federal police at the Friendship Bridge border crossing.
In a statement, Paraguay’s National Migration Directorate said Vasques was arrested for identity theft after allegedly trying to bypass immigration controls by posing as a Paraguayan citizen.
Officials said he entered Paraguay clandestinely while evading Brazilian authorities and was stopped as he attempted to travel onward to Panama, declaring El Salvador as his final destination.
Images and video shared by Paraguayan immigration authorities showed Vasques being detained and transferred to Brazilian custody.
Vasques previously served as head of Brazil’s federal highway police. Prosecutors accused him of deploying officers to obstruct voters in left leaning regions during the 2022 presidential election, which Bolsonaro lost to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
He was arrested in 2023 and placed under court supervision with an electronic ankle monitor while awaiting trial. Earlier this month, a Brazilian court sentenced him to more than 24 years in prison to be served under house arrest.
Brazilian media reported that Vasques broke his ankle monitor and drove across the border into Paraguay shortly after the sentence was handed down.
Brazil Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered Vasques’s preventive detention on Friday as a precaution, according to Reuters, citing court documents and sources familiar with the case.
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Vasques is one of several officials convicted over the January 2023 coup attempt who have tried to leave Brazil. In November, the Supreme Court ordered the arrest of former intelligence agency director Alexandre Ramagem, who left the country earlier this year and has since been living in the United States.
Justice Moraes also ordered Bolsonaro detained after the former president allegedly attempted to remove his court ordered ankle monitor. Bolsonaro, now 70, is serving a 27 year prison sentence after being convicted in September of leading efforts to prevent Lula from taking office.
On Thursday, Bolsonaro underwent surgery for a hernia while under custody, court officials said.
Brazilian authorities say efforts to locate and detain fugitives linked to the coup attempt remain ongoing.