Sao Paulo. Brazil's Federal Police and Tax Agency launched a series of nationwide raids on Thursday targeting billions of dollars in money laundering and fraud schemes linked to organized crime in the fuel sector, authorities said.

Multinational energy companies have been fighting for years to eradicate organized crime from their distribution networks in Brazil.

The federal tax collection service said this week's operation was linked to schemes involving more than 10 billion reais ($1.84 billion) in fuel imports and 52 billion reais in domestic fuel sales.

According to the agency, between 2020 and 2024, 46 billion reais in illicit financial transactions related to these schemes were moved through financial technology companies.

"In a coordinated action between the federal police, the federal tax agency, and state prosecutors, three simultaneous operations were carried out in the financial and fuel sectors, involving 10 states," President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stated at X.

Authorities executed some 350 search warrants in states across the country and attempted to seize more than one billion reais in assets during the operation, the tax collection service reported.

The closed-end investment funds investigated by authorities owned assets that included a port terminal, four ethanol plants and stakes in two others, a fleet of 1,600 trucks, and more than 100 properties, according to Andrea Chaves, undersecretary of supervision at the Tax Agency.

"The evidence identified by the tax authority indicates that the funds were used to conceal and protect assets, and suggests that the fund managers were aware of the scheme and contributed to it," he said.

The criminal activities involved the First Capital Command, a major organized crime gang, São Paulo state prosecutors reported.

Asset management company REAG Investimentos was one of the targets of the court orders, according to a court ruling seen by Reuters.