The Brazilian Federal Revenue Service and the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP, in the English acronym) launched on Friday, the 10th, a cooperation program to combat transnational organized crime, through real-time information sharing between the agencies.
“The cooperation is part of the context of the dialogue between President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and it forms part of a broader bilateral cooperation agenda aimed at confronting transnational organized crime,” said the Ministry of Finance, in a statement.
The initiative, called Project MIT (Mutual Interdiction Team), aims to integrate intelligence efforts and joint operations to intercept illicit shipments of firearms and drugs between the countries.
With the agreement, the Desarma Program was also launched, an information system of the Revenue that expands the international tracking capacity of weapons and sensitive materials.
This initiative enables real-time sharing of information between the countries, whenever Brazilian customs identifies products of American origin related to weapons, ammunition, parts, components, explosives and other sensitive items and vice versa. The idea is to allow the authorities of each country to act when the shipment of an illegal product is identified.
“The information shared may include data about exporters, senders and other operators involved in the operations, always within the limits of international agreements signed by Brazil and with guaranteed confidential, secure and traceable handling of the information,” the Ministry of Finance said.
The system can be used both for seizures at ports and airports as well as for international shipments, special enforcement operations and integrated actions with other investigative bodies, expanding the Brazilian state’s response capacity.
Revenue records indicate that the system can identify, connect and track international flows of illicit armaments. In the last 12 months, 35 incidents were identified, with the seizure of 1,168 parts and pieces (about 550 kg), sent mainly from Florida (USA) using fraudulent declarations and concealment methods.
The consolidation of these information into a structured database allows identifying patterns, links between senders and recipients and recurring routes, according to the agency.
The Desarma model can also operate in addressing other crimes, such as drug trafficking. Data from Guarulhos Airport indicate a rise in seizures, from 89 kg in 2024 to 1,562 kg in the first three months of 2026.
Durigan Meeting in the United States
The Minister of Finance, Dario Durigan, said on Friday that he may meet with U.S. authorities next week when he will be in Washington for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). So far, a meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has not been confirmed, he added.
“We do not have a schedule, but there is interest in holding talks about increasing international cooperation between Brazil and the United States during my trip next week,” Durigan said, at the press conference about a partnership between the two countries for tracking weapons and drugs.
Discussion Between Lula and Trump Helped the Partnership
According to the minister, the partnership announced on Friday was only possible thanks to a conversation between the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and his counterpart in the United States, Donald Trump.
Durigan said he hopes that cooperation between the two countries will advance, with new actions aimed at tracing weapons and ammunition, for example already under discussion.
He also stated that he did not discuss with American authorities the possibility of designating Brazilian criminal organizations as terrorists by the United States.
