Alexandre de Moraes, a justice of Brazil’s Supreme Court (STF), ordered a drug-trafficking prosecution dismissed and the immediate release of a man arrested during Operation Tonsor in São Paulo state.[1] The man had been held in preventive detention after a search warrant turned up 14.4 grams of cannabis products — 8.5 grams of “Flor” and 5.9 grams of “Dry” — a precision scale and 6,247 reais in cash.[1] The case was before the 1st Judicial Court of the Artur Nogueira judicial district.[1]
The arrest was justified by suspicion of involvement in drug dealing, the cash seized and the risk that evidence would be destroyed.[1] Although the man had no criminal record, the court considered other precautionary measures insufficient.[1] His defence appealed to the São Paulo Court of Justice, which denied an interim order, and then to the Superior Court of Justice, which declined to hear the case citing the STF’s Súmula 691.[1]
At the Supreme Court, the defence argued that the conditions for preventive detention were absent and asked for his release, with or without alternative measures.[1] Moraes noted that 14.4 grams falls within the 40-gram, six-plant limit the STF set in RE 635.659 (Tema 506) as a rebuttable presumption of personal use.[1] The minister wrote that the search of the shop found no drugs and no material evidence that the premises were used to store or distribute drugs.[1]
The investigation had pointed to possible cocaine sales using the vehicle and shop under investigation, but Moraes said the searches found no cocaine, no drugs in the car or shop, and no sales records, trafficking accounts or other evidence of distribution.[1] He concluded that possession for personal use was not a criminal offence and that there was no robust material evidence of intent to sell, and ordered the prosecution dismissed.[1] The decision was made available on Tuesday 27 October 2026.[1]
