Firearm Trafficking: 2 Marlborough Residents Charged

MARLBOROUGH, MA - A year-long, federal investigation across Massachusetts resulted in charges against 18 Brazilian nationals, two of which resided in Marlborough, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Guilherme Fernandes Tavares, 31, and Israel Yurrison Dos Santos, 24, both in the United States illegally and residents of Marlborough, were part of the apparent scheme.

The nationals are accused of selling various types of guns, many of which were tied to gang-related activities involving a massive transnational criminal organization. Many associates of Primeiro Comando da Capital, one of the largest of said organizations in Brazil and Latin America, are known to commit violent offenses such as murders, armed robberies, kidnappings and drug trafficking.

The investigation, which began in 2024, has yielded roughly 110 guns and trafficking quantities of fentanyl and ammunition. Handguns, rifles, short-barreled rifles are some of the firearms trafficked from Florida and South Carolina into the Commonwealth.

Other Massachusetts residents charged in the scheme reportedly lived in Malden, Weymouth, Chelsea, Framingham, Revere, Yarmouth and Boston.

Tavares and Dos Santos were both charged with engaging in the business of dealing firearms without a license. Said charges can carry sentences of up to five years in prison and massive fines.