A former Brazilian military police officer convicted of multiple murders and sentenced to more than 200 years in prison for his part in a 2015 massacre in his home country was arrested this week in New Hampshire.
Antonio Jose De Abreu Vidal Filho, 29, became the subject of an active Interpol Red Notice issued by the international criminal police organization after he was convicted of 11 murders and sentenced to 275 years and 11 months in prison in June by a criminal court in Brazil, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a release. He was convicted along with three other Brazilian military police officers on the 11 murder charges plus charges of attempted murder and physical and mental torture.
The crimes took place in November of 2015 during what has come to be known as the "Curio Massacre," for the name of the neighborhood in the Brazilian city of Fortaleza where they occurred, according to ICE.
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Vidal was taken into custody without incident on Monday in Rye, New Hampshire, by officers with ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations in Boston. He will remain in ICE custody pending a hearing before a federal immigration judge.
“The apprehension of this very dangerous foreign fugitive is an outstanding example of the professionalism and expertise of the officers of ERO Boston,” ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons said in a statement. “We are proud to have taken this notorious criminal, convicted of participating in multiple heinous murders in Brazil, off our streets. The dedication of ERO Boston officers has once again made our communities safer and more secure with this arrest."
No further details on how Vidal escaped Brazil or where he was found in Rye were released.
