Federal Police in Brazil executed a search and seizure warrant early Wednesday at the Brasília residence where former president Jair Bolsonaro is serving a 27-year sentence under house arrest. The operation, authorised by Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, sought firearms, ammunition, and registration documents. According to both the defence and a subsequent police report submitted to the court, no items were found during the roughly one-hour search, which included the bedroom of Bolsonaro’s young daughter.

The warrant was issued after what Justice Moraes described in his ruling as a “discrepancy” between the number of weapons registered in Bolsonaro’s name and those actually surrendered to authorities. The court had conditioned the renewal of his humanitarian house arrest on the delivery of all ten registered firearms. The defence initially stated that eight weapons were held by the Army Police Battalion, but the Army later confirmed it possessed only six, with a Glock pistol and a 12-gauge shotgun unaccounted for. The defence subsequently clarified that the pistol had been seized in June during a traffic stop involving a security agent and was in the custody of the Civil Police, while the shotgun was a gift that had never been collected from an importer in Caxias do Sul. Moraes deemed the explanation for the shotgun inconsistent with official records and unsupported by adequate documentation, prompting the search.

From Brasília, the operation is viewed as a direct consequence of the June incident in which a weapon registered to Bolsonaro was found with a member of his security detail, leading the court to revoke all his firearms permits. The defence lawyer, João Henrique Nascimento de Freitas, stated that the location of every weapon had already been communicated and called the search “lamentable.” Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president’s son and a pre-candidate for the presidency, described the action as a “smokescreen” intended to interfere in elections and divert attention from his own diplomatic activities in the United States. Another son, Carlos Bolsonaro, posted on social media a plea to “stop torturing my father,” drawing a comparison to the treatment of President Lula’s family.

The episode unfolds against a backdrop of international friction. The administration of US President Donald Trump has previously cited what it calls a “witch hunt” against Bolsonaro as partial justification for tariffs on Brazilian goods, though many of those measures were later lifted. Meanwhile, another son, Eduardo Bolsonaro, was convicted this year for illegal lobbying in Washington aimed at halting his father’s trial. The house arrest order remains in effect, and the defence has asked the court to formally contact the importer in Rio Grande do Sul to confirm custody of the outstanding shotgun. The Federal Police report confirming the negative result of the search has been filed with the Supreme Court, and no further judicial steps have been announced.