A group of 20 armed assailants early Thursday morning pulled off a mass robbery, known locally as an arrastao, at a luxury condominium building in the Vila Sonia neighborhood, near the upmarket Morumbi district in western Sao Paulo.
The assailants reportedly gained access to the property at 0530 by cutting an electrified perimeter fence, then climbing over a wall and opening the parking garage gate from inside.
More assailants entered once the gate was opened.
The assailants subdued a guard and another building employee at the property’s security post.
Brandishing pistols, revolvers and shotguns, the assailants ambushed residents entering and exiting their apartments and forced their way into homes from which they took items of value.
Before fleeing, at 0830, the assailants forced the building’s residents to gather in the parking garage.
One building employee was lightly injured when he was beaten for not divulging the elevator code required to access the upper floors.
The gang reportedly fled with 1.2 million reais ($209,439) in personal valuables, including luxury watches, jewelry, designer clothing, electronics and cash.
The condominium suffered a previous mass robbery in 2009 when 19 masked assailants forced their way in and held residents hostage for more than eight hours.
Vila Sonia is located just north of Jardim Colombo, a favela (slum) neighborhood and notorious hotbed of gang activity.
The sophistication and careful planning of the robbery suggests the gang may have ties to the Primeiro Comando da Capital (Portuguese abbr: PCC), one of Brazil’s most powerful crime syndicates which is based in Sao Paulo.
Home invasions are common throughout Sao Paulo, with gangs often targeting the luxury mansions and high-rise condominiums in Morumbi.
Executives and expat employees residing in Brazil should review, and if necessary, upgrade the physical and procedural security posture of their residences. These reviews should ideally be conducted by experienced security professionals prior to residences being occupied.
The specific locations of residential properties should also be considered in cities such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, as high-crime favelas often abut upscale residential districts and gated communities.
The best residential choice for executives remains a high-security apartment complex, but even in such complexes, units should be furnished with stout intrinsic security.
The next best is a single-family home in a guarded mini gated community (usually comprised of four to ten homes in a one- or two-block perimeter) or a larger gated community, though not all communities have acceptable levels of security.
Single-family homes outside protected communities are the least desirable choice from a security standpoint.
