Military police from Rotam, the Mato Grosso tactical patrol battalion, arrested three men aged 19, 20 and 40 in the Tijucal neighbourhood of Cuiabá, the capital of Mato Grosso, on Friday 6 November 2026.[1]

Residents told the officers that a man was selling drugs from a barbershop in the neighbourhood where he also worked as a barber, and that the shop had a heavy flow of apparent drug users.[2] Officers went to the shop and saw the owner handing a package to another man, and the two fled through the back of the premises when they noticed the police.[2] One man was caught, while the barbershop owner tried to climb a laundry tank to jump the wall, fell, and resisted arrest until officers restrained him.[2]

A search of one suspect found portions of substances similar to cocaine paste, marijuana and ice hidden in his underwear, and he said he had bought part of them from the barbershop owner and the ice-like substance from another man at a nearby address.[2] The barbershop owner was found with ten portions of cocaine paste, and a search of the shop found more drugs stored in a plastic container on top of a fridge, along with cash and materials used to divide and package drugs.[2]

The officers then went to a house the suspect indicated, where the third man lived, and his father let them in.[2] Two portions of marijuana were found in the third suspect’s pocket, and he pointed officers to a dresser drawer holding more drugs, cash and materials for selling the substances.[2] The three suspects were taken to the police station with all the seized material to record the case and take further legal steps.[2]