Public Security Secretary announces R$50,000 reward for PM killer in Santos

The Secretary of Public Security of São Paulo, Guilherme Derrite, announced this Wednesday, 7th, the transfer of his office from the capital of São Paulo to the city of Santos, on the coast. The measure was taken as a reaction to the death of Corporal José Silveira dos Santos, from the Police Special Actions Battalion (Baep), victim of gunfire during a raid in Morro do Tetéu, in the city of Baixada Santista. In the same action, another agent was shot and had to be hospitalized.

Derrite also informed that policing in Santos will be reinforced from this Thursday, 8th, and that the government may offer a reward worth R$50,000 for relevant information that helps locate the suspect of having shot and killed the soldier Wesley Cosmo, from Rondas Ostensivas Tobias de Aguiar (Rota), last Friday, 2.

“The legislation allows me, as Secretary of Public Security, to issue a resolution and pay up to R$50,000 to any individual or legal entity that has privileged information and brings us this information. As long as it becomes relevant to lead to arrest,” he said.

The transfer of the security summit to Santos represents the beginning of the third phase of Operation Verão. “Due to this death (of Corporal José Silveira), and the tragedy that occurred against the Rota police officer (of Wesley Cosmo), we reinforced Operation Verão with the use of more personnel, with intelligence actions to try to locate individuals who belong to organized crime”, highlighted Derrite.

The head of the department ruled out that the actions constitute the beginning of a new stage of Operation Escudo, launched in July last year in Guarujá, after the death of a Rota soldier in a confrontation with criminals. The action lasted 40 days and ended with 28 deaths. “We will employ more operational personnel than those who were already reinforcing the second stage of Operation Summer,” he stated.

For this third stage of the operation, battalions stationed in other cities are planned to be deployed, such as the 15th Baep (Guarulhos) and the 5th Baep (Barueri). The 6th Baep, from the ABC region, was already operating in Santos this Wednesday.

This list of reinforcements also includes more Rota police officers, agents from the Special Operations Command (COE, of the Military Police), special units of the Civil Police, such as the Special Reaction Group (GER) and the State Department of Prevention and Repression of Drug trafficking (Denarc), whose staff, according to the secretary, “will be used to combat organized crime”.

Before this stage of Operation Summer on the coast of São Paulo, the ministry had already launched the first phase, which consisted of reinforcing security in the region during the holiday season, which usually involves the presence of tourists in the region; and the second, due to the death of Wesley Cosmo. The suspect for murdering the agent was identified, but is still at large.

According to the head of the department, after the soldier's death, on Friday, seven incidents of exchanges of fire involving criminals and police officers were recorded.