A Brazilian pastor wanted by the courts on suspicion of sexually abusing 30 children was expelled from Paraguay on Tuesday. Alcemir de Souza, 47, was detained in Saltos del Guairá, in the department of Canindeyú, and handed over to Brazil's Federal Police.
Interpol said the suspect used his religious leader facade to hold services in the border region and attract adolescents and vulnerable people. The complaints against him total 26 cases in Curitiba, where the arrest warrant was issued. So far, there are no records of victims in Paraguay.
Commissioner Juan Fretes, deputy head of Interpol in Paraguay, said the man was hiding in Saltos del Guairá and had resumed acting as a pastor in local churches. “He posed as a spiritual guide for adolescents and, taking advantage of the vulnerability of the people who sought him out, committed the abuses,” he said. The investigation also indicates that the suspect worked as a food delivery driver at night, which helped locate him.
The arrest resulted from a joint operation between Paraguay's National Police and Brazil's Federal Police, following an Interpol alert. The pastor had been on the run for five years. Paraguayan authorities ask that possible victims in the Saltos del Guairá region contact the regional Interpol station.