- Police searched former president Jair Bolsonaro's home for weapons and found none.
- Bolsonaro, 71, is under house arrest serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup after the 2022 election.
- The Supreme Court extended his house arrest due to health issues, requiring surrender of about 10 registered weapons.
- Lawyers handed over most firearms; they said one shotgun was never picked up from the seller, so could not be surrendered.
- Judge Alexandre de Moraes noted registration discrepancies; the one-hour search included Bolsonaro's 15-year-old daughter's bedroom and found nothing.
Brazilian police on Wednesday searched for weapons at the home of former president Jair Bolsonaro, who is under house arrest, but came up empty-handed.
Bolsonaro, 71, is serving a 27-year prison sentence for attempting a coup to overturn the result of the 2022 election won by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Last week the Supreme Court extended Bolsonaro’s house arrest due to health issues.
This was conditional on Bolsonaro surrendering about 10 weapons registered to his name, after one of his bodyguards was found in possession of one of his guns last month.
The former leader’s lawyers handed over most of the firearms, but said one shotgun had never been picked up from the company where it was purchased and thus could not be handed in.
According to the search order, seen by AFP, Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes said the explanation was “inconsistent” with existing records.
He also noted a discrepancy between the number of registered weapons and those surrendered to authorities.
However, police “didn’t find anything,” lawyer Joao Henrique Nascimento de Freitas told AFP, adding there had been “no grounds for the search.”
He said the search lasted about an hour and included the bedroom of Bolsonaro’s 15-year-old daughter, who was asleep at the time.
A police document submitted to the court confirmed the search had turned up nothing.
