Three men were arrested and a 17-year-old boy was apprehended in Campo Grande during an operation against a group accused of sending phones and drugs into the Máxima maximum-security prison by drone.[1] The prison is the Estabelecimento Penal Jair Ferreira de Carvalho, known as Máxima.[1] The operation began with an anonymous tip that a silver Chevrolet Onix was being used to launch objects into the prison.[2] The operation was carried out by the Força Tática of the 9th Military Police Battalion, with support from the 11th CIPM.[2] Officers found the car with the three men and the teenager on Rua Pinheiro Machado.[1] The four were detained between the night of Tuesday 10 November and the early hours of Wednesday 11 November in the Jardim Noroeste neighbourhood.[2]

In the car, officers found a switched-on drone controller on the floor and a portion of marijuana in the glove compartment.[2] They seized three iPhones, R$307 in cash and a charger from the occupants.[1] The drone intercepted by the Polícia Penal and the Força Penal Nacional was carrying two mobile phones and about 450 grams of marijuana, bound for the prison.[1] One of the men told officers he owned the drone and that it had fallen inside the prison while carrying phones.[1] A search of his home turned up two more DJI drones, five DJI controllers, eight batteries, phone parts, four bottles of whisky and more marijuana, bringing the total cannabis seized to 492 grams.[2] The car and the marijuana found inside it were handed to Denar, the specialised narcotics unit, and the four detainees were taken to the Cepol police centre.[1]

The incident was registered as drug trafficking, criminal association, corruption of minors and favorecimento real (aiding an offender).[3]