Brazil's ex President Bolsonaro Ordered to Surrender Passport in ‘Coup Plot’ Probe

Brazilian Federal Police on Thursday ordered the former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to surrender his passport as part of an investigation into an alleged attempted ‘coup’ to consolidate power.

The police raided his beach house in the tony town of Mambucaba in Rio de Janeiro at 7 am and ordered that he turns in his passport during an operation, one of his former aides said, according to reports. As many as 30 search warrants were executed. At least four arrest warrants were issued across 10 states and the capital Brasilia. The crackdown was code named as operation Tempos Veritates [Time for Truth]. 

Bolsonaro and his allies faced the harshest yet crackdown related to the alleged threats to Brazilian democracy. The former Brazilian President was accused of colluding with the high-ranking members of the military to stage a coup to keep Lula from power.

Bolsonaro tells police his passport was in capital Brasilia

Bolsonaro noted that his passport was in the capital Brasilia. He was asked to surrender it within 24 hours and was told that he cannot leave the country. Police detained Bolsonaro’s former international affairs advisor, Felipe Martins. They also reportedly detained Colonel Marcelo Câmara, and Major Rafael Martins of Brazil’s Special Forces.

Cops also had the arrest warrant against Colonel Bernardo Romão Corrêa Netto but he could not be held as he is in the United States. Several search warrants were issued against Brazilian leader’s allies including former cabinet ministers, including his former chief of staff Walter Braga Netto and national security advisor Augusto Heleno, it was reported.

“All of that in order to justify an accusation of an operation that did not exist,” Bolsonaro told CNN-Brazil. “In compliance with today's decisions, President @jairbolsonaro will hand over the passport to the competent authorities. He has already instructed his direct assistant, who was targeted by the same decision and was in Mambucaba, to return to his home in Brasília, complying with the order of avoiding contact with the others investigated,” said Fabio Wajngarten, former communications secretary of the Bolsonaro administration.