By Ricardo Brito and Isabel Teles
BRASILIA, July 3 (Reuters) - A Brazilian federal police operation targeting suspects with alleged ties to the PCC drug gang was accelerated after the U.S. sanctioned two suspects this week, helping one of them evade capture and hindering the investigation, Federal Police Director-General Andrei Rodrigues said on Friday.
"Had the designation not occurred, the outcome might have been different, and we would have located the individual," Rodrigues told journalists on Friday.
"So, in my view, it caused a setback to the investigation."
Federal police did not identify the suspects but said in a statement that the operation aimed to dismantle a criminal group accused of laundering proceeds from international drug trafficking.
Investigators said the suspects allegedly ran a sophisticated network that moved and laundered money through cryptocurrency transfers, cash transportation, high-value banking transactions and transfers between individuals and companies. A preliminary analysis identified more than 10 billion reais ($1.92 billion) in financial transactions linked to the scheme, federal police said.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control added two Brazilian nationals to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, alleging Victor Henrique de Oliveira Shimada had links to Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), one of Brazil's biggest criminal organizations, and Stella Stefanie Nunes Henrique de Oliveira had links to Shimada.
Oliveira was arrested in the operation, two sources close to the investigation told Reuters. Shimada remains at large, one of the sources said.
MONTHS-LONG INVESTIGATION
A third person familiar with the probe said planning for Friday's raid began in March and was authorized to go forward last month. Police rushed to bring the operation forward when they got news of the sanctions, the same person added, but Wednesday's U.S. announcement likely alerted the suspect, allowing him to make efforts to evade it.
The same person said Brazilian investigators had alerted their U.S. counterparts before the sanctions were announced that the suspects were being investigated.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shimada's lawyers said in a statement they had not yet accessed the court records and would review the case and official information to determine the appropriate course of action. Reuters could not immediately reach Oliveira's representatives.
The U.S. designated PCC and rival gang Comando Vermelho as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, effective last month.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's administration has sought to avoid such designations, fearing they could eventually open the door to U.S. military action or sanctions on banks that unknowingly do business with gang members.
The U.S. sanctions also targeted three little-known Brazilian companies, two of them in the financial sector, for their alleged links to one of the sanctioned individuals.
($1 = 5.2060 reais)
(Reporting by Ricardo Brito in Brasilia; Additional reporting and writing by Isabel Teles in Sao Paulo; Editing by Gareth Jones, Mark Potter and Bill Berkrot)
