Federal cops stand guard near the home of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, during a search operation at his home, in Brasilia, Brazil May 3, 2023.
Adriano Machado | Reuters
Brazil’s federal police on Wednesday raided former President Jair Bolsonaro’s home in Brasilia as a part of a probe into a gaggle suspected of adding false vaccine data into the federal government’s Covid-19 database, two sources conversant in the matter said.
Two of Bolsonaro’s closest aides, Mauro Cid and Max Guilherme, have been arrested in the identical operation, the sources added.
Federal police earlier within the day said in an announcement they were serving 16 search and seizure warrants and 6 preventive arrest warrants in Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro as a part of the operation, but didn’t disclose the names of those targeted.
Federal cops stand guard near the home of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, during a search operation at his home, in Brasilia, Brazil May 3, 2023.Â
Adriano Machado | Reuters
A spokesman and a lawyer for Bolsonaro didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.
Police said the “false data” were allegedly added to the database between November 2021 and December 2022, when Bolsonaro was president, to change immunization statuses of still unnamed people.
“Consequently, they were capable of issue vaccine certificates and use them to avoid restrictions imposed by public authorities in Brazil and the US,” police said, adding the group also had an “ideological reason” for doing so.
Bolsonaro while in office was a vocal skeptic of Covid-19 vaccines who vowed to never get the jab.
