Man accused of 11 murders is arrested in front of coworkers in New Hampshire
‘It’s a pretty epic way to start your Monday morning, you know?’ one coworker of the arrested man said
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A construction worker was apprehended by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while on the job in New Hampshire.
Earlier this week, on 14 August, former Brazilian military police officer Antonio Jose De Abreu Vidal Filho, 29, was arrested at the construction site in Rye by Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), a division of ICE.
He was named by Interpol in a Red Notice after a criminal court in Brazil convicted him of 11 murders and he was sentenced to 275 years and 11 months in prison in June “for his part in a 2015 Brazilian massacre,” according to ICE.
The incident has since been dubbed the “Curio Massacre.” He and three other Brazilian military police officers were convicted of 11 murder charges plus charges of attempted murder and physical and mental torture, the ICE release said.
Coworkers described the dramatic arrest to WCVB, saying the federal officials arrived on the scene with helmets, rifles and flash grenades.
“We’re just like, ‘OK, OK, OK. We had nothing to do with it,’” Sammy Johnson told the outlet. “It’s a pretty epic way to start your Monday morning, you know?”
Mr Vidal Filho’s coworkers recalled he had informed them that he and his wife had come from Brazil to escape violence in the country and start a family in the US.
“To hear that might not be the truth, it’s rather frightening that I believed him,” another unnamed coworker told the station.
“The apprehension of this very dangerous foreign fugitive is an outstanding example of the professionalism and expertise of the officers of ERO Boston,” said ERO Boston Field Office Director Todd Lyons.
“We are proud to have taken this notorious criminal convicted of participating in multiple heinous murders in Brazil, off our streets,” Lyons added.
ICE said that Mr Vidal Filho will remain in its custody pending a hearing before a federal immigration judge.