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They were serving 16 preventive arrest warrants and 22 search
and seizure warrants ordered by the Supreme Court in seven
states and the federal district, where Brasilia is located, a
statement said.
"Investigations continue so that the law is fully observed,"
Justice Minister Flavio Dino wrote on Twitter after the federal
police announcement. "This is the only way we will secure peace
and democracy."
The raids represent the tenth phase of an operation launched in
mid-January to identify people who participated in, funded or
fostered the riots, in which a crowd protesting President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva's election victory invaded and ransacked
the Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court.
Police did not disclose the names of those targeted in the
raids, but said they were being investigated for crimes of
"violent abolition of the rule of law, coup d'état, qualified
damage, criminal association, incitement, destruction and
deterioration of specially protected property".
Last week, Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered
Bolsonaro to testify before federal police about his role in the
riots, agreeing to a request filed by the country's top public
prosecutor, who said Bolsonaro's testimony was an
"indispensable" step to clarifying what happened.
Bolsonaro has denied any responsibility for the riots, which
recalled the 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of
former President Donald Trump. He has argued that he was out of
the country in self-imposed exiled in Florida, where he flew two
days before his term ended without conceding defeat.
(Reporting by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Andrew Heavens and
Chizu Nomiyama)
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