The chronology of Silvinei Vasques’ escape: suitcases, dog and rental car

The former director general of the Federal Highway Police (PRF), Silvinei Vasques, was arrested this Friday (26) at Silvio Pettirossi International Airport, in Asunción, Paraguay, when trying to board a flight to El Salvador.

The arrest, however, was the result of a sequence of events that began on Christmas Eve, after the electronic ankle bracelet that monitored compliance with precautionary measures imposed by the Federal Supreme Court broke.

According to a decision by Minister Alexandre de Moraes who decreed Silvinei’s preventive detention, at around 3am on Thursday (25), the former PRG director’s monitoring equipment stopped emitting a GPS signal.

Hours later, around 1 pm, the ankle bracelet completely lost data communication, possibly due to the battery running out. At 11pm, Federal Police agents went to the address registered by the former PRF director, in São José (SC), but did not find him there.

Images from the building’s security system indicate that, on the night of Christmas Eve, Vasques left the property at around 7:22 pm, using a rented vehicle. He was filmed carrying various personal belongings, including bags, food, dog toilet mats and a pitbull dog. After leaving, he did not return to the address.

Upon discovering the violation of the precautionary measure, Brazilian authorities triggered alerts at the borders and mobilized Brazilian assistance abroad. The investigation indicates that Vasques left Santa Catarina by car, crossed Paraná and continued to Paraguay without judicial authorization.

In the early hours of this Friday (26), he was located and arrested at Silvio Pettirossi International Airport, in Asunción, when trying to board a flight to El Salvador, with a stopover in Panama. According to the investigation, Vasques had an original Paraguayan passport, but it did not correspond to his identity, which led to his arrest and arrest by local authorities.

After his arrest, the former director of the PRF was identified and placed at the disposal of the Public Ministry of Paraguay. He must undergo a custody hearing this Friday and, subsequently, be handed over to the Brazilian authorities.

Silvinei Vasques was sentenced by the STF on December 16 to 24 years in prison for participating in a criminal organization involved in the attempted coup d’état after the 2022 elections. According to the Attorney General’s Office, he acted in a coordinated manner to hinder the movement of voters in strategic regions of the country, especially in the Northeast, during the second round of the presidential election.