22 March 2010
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At the time of this interview, Jorge Pontes had been the Head of INTERPOL Brasilia for fifteen months. During this short period, he had already led several successful international police operations, implemented new solutions for tackling existing crime trends, and re-structured NCB core functions to focus on emerging crime patterns, particularly in the field of ecology. Pontes is a dynamic and energetic figure, with an enthusiastic belief in the power of the INTERPOL community to combat international crime. “It is hard to figure how a country like Brazil would accomplish its security goals and fight transnational crime in the ever-changing world of the 21st century without being part of this international organization”, Pontes told General Secretariat staff during the 5th Heads of NCB meeting in Lyon in March 2009. Pontes acknowledges the role of the Director General of the Brazilian Federal Police, Luis Fernando Corrêa, in the success of NCB Brasilia. By promoting the status of the NCB, Corrêa was instrumental in creating an innovative, dynamic approach to policing in the country. “Actually, he enabled NCB Brasilia to become a sort of international platform for the whole Brazilian Police, as well as giving the NCB the status of a Directorate”, said Pontes. “I am extremely lucky to have a boss who understands the importance of international co-operation and, under my command, a group of remarkable and experienced officers.
IPSG: What challenges do you face at INTERPOL Brasilia?
IPSG: What can your NCB do to change this image and bring fugitives to justice? JORGE PONTES: The Brazilian Federal Police has changed the end of this fairy tale for many fugitives. Many criminals have been betrayed by the Brazilian myth, including 'Dom' Tommaso Buscetta, Mery Valencia and Shalom Weiss. Their arrest on Brazilian soil demonstrates the efficiency of the Federal Police Department and promotes a positive image of the country as a whole. NCB Brasilia is creating a special international investigative unit to focus exclusively on the location and arrest of international fugitives. Other NCBs will be invited to send representatives for special training at the Brazilian Federal Police Academy, and I would like to encourage them to participate. Having suffered so long from the consequences of fugitives seeking refuge in Brazil, we want to share our experiences with fellow fugitive investigators around the world. Our fugitive investigators manual gives an insight into how we carried out effective police investigations and operations. It doesn’t focus too heavily on theory: instead we wanted to inject a modern police approach, using input from partner agencies in Germany and USA. The manual provides practical guidance on effective operational planning and execution with regard to the hunt and capture of fugitives.
IPSG: Brazil is a huge country. How does INTERPOL Brasilia cover the entire nation and target regional crime? JORGE PONTES: Brazil is one of the most used transit countries for cocaine shipments to Africa, and this forms a focus for the NCB's activities. But we also face increased criminal activity in the areas of fraud (including document forgery), money laundering, cyber crime and the circulation of child sexual exploitation images. There are 34 full-time staff at INTERPOL Brasilia. In addition, 50 more officers work in the NCB Regional Offices located in each of Brazil’s 27 states.Domestic law enforcement agencies benefit daily from the NCB’s hands-on access to the General Secretariat, in particular the Notices Branch, Fugitive Investigative Support and Command and Co-ordination Centre. The administrative work of the NCB has been facilitated since domestic law enforcement has had direct access to INTERPOL'S databases. I-24/7 is available to 321 Federal Police Offices all over the country. Both the Nominal database and the Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database are used daily by immigration services and for police checks on foreigners entering Brazil. The NCB updates the SLTD database weekly with information provided by the Brazilian passport division. There are plans to give the Federal Police Patrol access to INTERPOL’s Stolen Motor Vehicles (SMV) database shortly. The National Institute of Forensics already has access to INTERPOL’s DNA Gateway.INTERPOL'S Works of Art (WOA) database is widely known and as soon as cultural property is stolen, we at the NCB are immediately alerted and update the database accordingly. In the last two years four works of art were located abroad based on information contained in the WOA database. Testimony to its workload, INTERPOL Brasilia exchanges approximately 13,000 messages globally every year. Environmental conservation IPSG: You have focused much of your police career on tackling wildlife crime. Can you tell us more about current problems in this area? JORGE PONTES: Illegal trafficking in wildlife has become Brazil's third-most profitable illegal activity after arms and drugs smuggling, generating up to USD 1 billion annually. Offences include trafficking in Brazilian wood protected by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) such as mahogany and rosewood. Biopiracy and the theft of botanical and animal substances for the benefit of the pharmaceutical and chemical industry are rising alarmingly. An estimated 38 million wild animals are stolen from the country's forests every year. 82% of the illegal sales concern birds, while 14% are mammals and 3% are snakes. IPSG: How has NCB Brasilia responded to these threats to the environment? JORGE PONTES: Brazil takes full advantage of its INTERPOL membership. Capitalizing on the reach of INTERPOL's network, the Brazilian police created a special wildlife crime division. Being part of a network of 187 countries is invaluable for the effective exchanging of operational information. INTERPOL keeps the Brazilian Federal Police abreast of threats from international criminals and their modus operandi and provides outstanding training opportunities. I can share many operational successes with you which are a tribute to the hard work, professionalism and dedication of INTERPOL Brasilia.
Operation Nautilus targets protected coral IPSG: Operation Nautilus, launched by the Brazilian Federal Police in April 2008, was an extensive environmental crime investigation aimed at dismantling a network which had been exploiting protected coral from the northeast coast of the country for more than ten years. Conducted simultaneously in 12 Brazilian States, the operation involved more than 250 Federal Police Officers. What results did it yield? JORGE PONTES: Our investigators identified three Brazilian companies responsible for illegal coral extraction, distribution to several Brazilian states and export to 12 countries. Each company would pay local fishermen, divers, or different kinds of commercial boats, to dig up the coral which they would then sell and often export. Our investigations revealed that in 2007, 16 tons of coral reef fragments were supplied to domestic markets and over 20 tons exported to several countries including Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Among the species illegally exported are Siderastrea stellata and Astrangia brasiliensis, members of the Scleractinia class registered by CITES as an endangered and protected wild fauna species.Operation Nautilus resulted in 14 arrest warrants, the execution of 64 search warrants and retrieval of considerable amounts of precious Pernambuco reef coral. IPSG: Was it useful to have international partners in achieving these impressive results? Operation Carrousel uncovers global child sex abuse network IPSG: What about internet crime? How does NCB Brasilia confront this kind of crime? JORGE PONTES: Brazil is particularly affected by computer hacking and internet fraud. INTERPOL Brasilia decided something needed urgently to be done to counter this widespread form of crime. My NCB opened an investigation in 2008 to detect the Internet addresses of Internet users in Brazil who appeared to be exchanging files containing child abuse photographs. IPSG: How did NCB Brasilia co-ordinate Operation Carrousel? JORGE PONTES: The Brazilian Federal Police Unit of Cybernetic Crimes Enforcement joined forces with the Brazilian Forensics National Institute and together we focused investigations on “eMule” peer-to-peer technology. Thousands of IP addresses worldwide were identified and suspects investigated. IPSG: Was it useful to be part of a strong international law enforcement community in achieving these results? JORGE PONTES : This was a novel investigation for INTERPOL Brasilia as it required new technological knowledge and a specific form of police co-ordination. As suspects were identified in 77 countries, investigations could not progress without turning to INTERPOL's global police network. The results unleashed a worldwide investigation which led to the arrests of hundreds of internet child abusers in Australia, Europe, South America and the United States. Brazilian investigators described the images as some of the worst that they had ever seen. The ongoing operation promises to send many more internet paedophiles to jail. It used to be very difficult to punish this kind of crime in Brazil. But my country recently approved a law which makes the possession of child pornography a crime punishable by up to eight years in prison. This means that from now on we should significantly increase the number of arrests we make.
IPSG: In Brazil, the Federal Constitution governs five different law enforcement institutions:
Where is INTERPOL Brasilia situated within this structure? JORGE PONTES: NCB Brasilia is under the umbrella of the Brazilian Federal Police. The main duties of the Federal Police, officially the 'Departamento de Polícia Federal', include prevention and investigation of federal crimes. Thus, it has both order maintenance and law enforcement tasks. It also patrols airports, maritime waters and the border. It is directly subordinated to the Ministry of Justice. INTERPOL Brasilia is organized by units of analysis and operations. These are divided into specific subject groups aimed at specializing staff to fight precise forms of crime, mirroring the work model adopted by the INTERPOL General Secretariat. IPSG: How is INTERPOL Brasilia structured internally? JORGE PONTES: The NCB is made up of several work sectors and units. The Division of International Co-operation and Police Operations (Divisão de Cooperação e Operações Policiais Internacionais – DPI) is responsible for planning, controlling, guiding and evaluating the international police operations requested by Brazilian authorities. It is divided in two sections:
It also supports intelligence actions and international police operations initiated by regional NCB offices. IPSG: How many people work at the NCB, and what are their roles? JORGE PONTES : INTERPOL Brasilia is made up of 34 full-time staff and 50 additional officers who work in the NCB regional offices in each of Brazil’s 27 states. The regional offices were created to give the NCB a greater domestic police reach and to decentralize and speed up the exchange of information.NCB employees are first and foremost staff of the Brazilian Federal Police Department. They are public officers, commissioners, police agents, court clerks, fingerprint experts and administrative workers, each selected competitively for a specific NCB responsibility. Recruitment criteria include linguistic abilities, legal knowledge (international public law), formal writing techniques, availability for travel, aptitude to thrive in an international environment, and acute sense of investigation (aptitude for police operations carried out with other countries).
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