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Brazil’s fuel mafias raise concerns
13/10/2026
8 min read
Feature
The role of organised crime in Brazil’s fuel sector is raising concerns, with Brazilian authorities and companies asked to boost cooperation to protect the sector, writes Andreia Nogueira.
In August 2025, the then Justice and Public Security Minister Ricardo Lewandowski announced the results of ‘Operation Hidden Carbon’, a major investigation into the fraudulent sale of petrol by organised crime, hailing it as ‘one of the largest operations in history against organised crime, especially its activities in the legal market’.
Federal tax revenue service Receita Federal reported that its officials and police had discovered that between 2020 and 2024, more than 1,000 Brazilian petrol stations had registered very low tax collection related to BRL52bn (Brazilian Real; $10bn) in sales.
According to Receita Federal, this involved outright tax evasion and fuel adulteration. The network undertaking these crimes was linked to Brazilian international organised crime group, the First Capital Command (Primeiro Comando da Capital – PCC). This group is powerful, with the European Union police agency Europol reporting that it controls much of the cocaine-trading logistics between Brazil and Europe. Earlier this year, it was designated as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US.