Latin America’s biggest arms dealer Diego Dirísio is arrested in Argentina after a month on the run: Funneled almost 43,000 weapons to gangs in Brazil
- Diego Dirísio and his wife Julieta Nardi were arrested by Interpol on Friday in Córdoba, Argentina
- Authorities in Paraguay and Brazil accuse them of using his Paraguayan company to buy weapons and ammunition from Europe
- The couple then sold guns, rifles, pistols and ammunition to gangs in Brazil
A fugitive believed to be Latin America’s biggest arms dealer has been arrested by Interpol in his native Argentina after more than a month on the run.
Diego Dirísio and his wife Julieta Nardi, a native of Paraguay and a model in the 1990s, were taken into custody during an operation in the central province of Cordoba, according to Brazilian news channel G1.
The couple has been on the run since December after avoiding capture by authorities at their home in Paraguay, where they are wanted by authorities.
Interpol learned of Dirísio and Nardi’s location after receiving an anonymous tip.
Diego Dirísio was taken into custody by Interpol in Córdoba, Argentina on Friday. Dirísio and his wife Julieta Nardi, who was also arrested, are accused by authorities in Paraguay and Brazil of buying weapons and ammunition from Europe and then funneling them to gangs in Brazil.
Julieta Nardi has funneled more than 25,000 weapons to Brazilian gangs, according to investigators. Born in Paraguay, Nardi was a former model in the 1990s
Paraguayan and Brazilian authorities accuse Dirísio of using his Paraguay-based company, International Auto Supply, to buy $242 million worth of weapons and ammunition from companies in the Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovenia and Turkey.
Rifles, rifles, machine guns and ammunition were shipped to Paraguay and then sent to some of Brazil’s most powerful criminal organizations.
Nardi is accused of selling at least 25,000 guns to Brazilian gangs.
Flávio Albergaria, the head of the federal police in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia, told G1 that the arrest was the result of “intensive investigative efforts and the fluid exchange of information with the Brazilian and Argentine police.”
Dirísio became a target of Brazilian authorities in November 2020 when a man was caught searching a bus while carrying two rifles and 23 pistols.
Authorities in Paraguay and Brazil accused Diego Dirísio (pictured) of using his Paraguayan company, International Auto Supply, to buy $242 million worth of weapons and ammunition from companies in the Czech Republic, Croatia, Slovenia and Turkey
Diego Dirísio and his wife Julieta Nardi escaped capture in December when authorities raided their home in Paraguay
Although every serial number had been removed from the firearms, federal police officers were able to determine their origin.
Investigators found that Dirísio’s company purchased 7,720 guns from Croatia, and 2,056 rifles from the Czech Republic, between November 2019 and December 2022.
The transatlantic arms smuggler also bought 5,000 rifles, pistols and revolvers from Turkey and another 1,200 pistols purchased from a factory in Slovenia.
The weapons were then sold to Brazilian criminal factions, Primeiro Comando da Capital and Comando Vermelho.
Most of the weapons were destined for members in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
“He is the owner of the company and coordinates all the company’s actions,” Albergaria said. ‘He made direct arrangements for their sale and resale knowing that these weapons had to be scrapped and earmarked for organized crime.
‘This was evident from the investigation and this was the biggest difficulty in starting the operation.’
Dirisio and Nardi are in danger of being extradited to Paraguay.