Seap Pará completes nine consecutive phases of the 'Operation Mute' without finding cell phones or illegal items
The result reinforces the operational dominance of the State over the prison environment. Without seizures of cell phones or illegal items, the State maintains performance that sets it apart in the national scenario
The 9th phase of Operation Mute consolidated another chapter of the control exercised by the State over the prison system in Pará. Repeating the performance of the previous eight stages, since the beginning of the national task force in October 2023, Pará once again presented a positive result, for the ninth consecutive time, none of the 54 penal units recorded seizures of cell phones, drugs, or any illegal material, a scenario that keeps the State in a prominent position compared to other Brazilian states.
The phase was concluded on the night of this Thursday (27), after simultaneous actions in 10 units of the Metropolitan Region of Belém, coordinated by the State Secretariat of Penitentiary Administration (Seap) and in alignment with the guidelines of the National Secretariat of Penal Policies (Senappen). Once again, the State closed the operation without any record of illegal items.
Focusing on combating criminal organizations that operate inside and outside Brazilian penal units, Operation Mute seeks to neutralize the use of irregular cell phones and other prohibited items that fuel criminal activities in large cities. The absence of these seizures represents a direct impact on public safety.
Between the 24th and 27th, 54 units of the State underwent the search procedure. In Pará, the first day was concentrated at the Santa Izabel Penitentiary Complex, with participation from elite forces of Seap, GAP, Cope, and GBR, in addition to the penal police from the units.
Coordinator of the 9th edition of the operation in Pará, the Deputy Secretary of Operational Management (Sago), Ringo Alex Rayol Frias, highlighted the strategic choice for the night search.
“It is to alternate the timing of this control to demonstrate, first, that the prison environment is exclusive territory of the State. And we enter this prison environment at any hour and at any time. This is also a way to draw the attention of the inmate regarding the legality that cannot be allowed within prison environments and that we enter this environment at any hour,” he stated.
He also reinforced the direct impacts of the operation. “This brings as an immediate consequence, first, social peace and the guarantee of public order within prison environments and the tranquility for our penal police to carry out their activities. And once again we had success in the ninth edition, no illegal material, no cell phone, no mobile communication from within the prison units with the outside world has been found so far, this is a success and we will always be advancing, improving even more,” he emphasized.
The Seap Corregedoria also monitored the actions. The corregidor of the interior, Carlos Cavalcante, explained the importance of the preventive action of the agency.
“Every action of the State is an administrative act and it must be controlled. And the presence of the Corregedoria is precisely to make this legality control, so that there is no type of excess, so that the procedure is respected, so that the physical, psychological, and moral integrity of the inmates is preserved, and their freedom as well. And this is how the Corregedoria works in these actions, preventively, assisting in any occurrence records that may arise during the operation, assisting with the technique to the prison unit and the penal police and Seap,” he clarified.
At Cope, Captain QOPM Ismael Alcântara highlighted the psychological and operational impact of the search outside the usual hours. “The semi-nighttime deviates from normality, even in the mind of the inmate, he is used to the search being conducted during the day. Being at night, if there was any type of organization, whether for breaking the order, or for any type of situation that deviates from the security protocol, we will certainly be able to prevent it through the search being conducted. And if there is any situation where action is needed, the troops will be ready for the State to be present and strong, as it should be done for the maintenance of order,” he stressed.
The commander of GBR, penal police Richard Leão, emphasized the alignment of the teams in the oversight effort. “We are dividing these police officers in the internal metropolitan region and in different garrisons and the objective once again is to identify possible telecommunication devices in the prison units and this is the ninth phase of the multi-operation and this time we are conducting it at night, to eliminate any chance of a telecommunication device existing in the prison units and so far the mission's mandate has been very positive, no telecommunication device found,” he informed.
Representing GAP, penal police Marques reinforced the national recognition of the control model adopted in the State. “We are coming to the third day of searches in this ninth phase of Operation Mute. And a search conducted at night only demonstrates the control of the prison that the state has. So, the State of Pará is a state nationally recognized as having one of the best controls of private incarceration. Of course, respecting human rights,” he concluded.
National – According to the National Secretariat of Penal Policies (Senappen), prohibited communications constitute a national problem, with serious social, psychological, and economic impacts. The actions to combat prohibited communications in the national prison system directly influence the reduction of Intentional Violent Lethal Crimes (CVLI).
According to Senappen, combined, the eight phases of the operation removed 6,924 cell phones used for illegal communication inside the country's prisons. The number of penal police involved in the operation is also noteworthy: combined, the eight phases involved the participation of more than 30,000 penal police officers.
