Police investigate the actions of factions in the collection of loans with kidnappings in RS A man was kidnapped inside his own home, taken to another location and forced to answer a video call made by a criminal who was inside a prison. During the call, he received threats to pay a debt owed to a loan shark. The case is one of the episodes investigated by the Civil Police in Operation Dâmocles, launched this Monday morning (7), in Gravataí, in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre. The offensive resulted in the arrest of eight people suspected of being members of criminal groups that, according to the investigation, collected loans with extreme violence. ? Access the g1 RS channel on WhatsApp In addition to the kidnapping, another case caught the attention of investigators. According to the police, a family was expelled from their home by criminals, who placed a padlock on the gate and said that, from that moment on, the property "belonged to the faction". In total, ten search and seizure warrants were executed, seven preventive arrest warrants were carried out and one arrest was made in the act. Around 60 agents from the Civil Police, Military Brigade and Municipal Guard participated in the operation. According to delegate Luana Tamiozzo Medeiros, investigations began after victims went to the police station reporting threats and violence during debt collection. "The victims arrived terrified and desperate. They had resorted to loans from loan sharks and then began to suffer extremely violent charges. The investigation showed that there were organized criminal groups responsible for both the loans and the charges," he states. The operation brings together three different police investigations. Although they involve different groups, the police say that they all used similar methods to intimidate those who were unable to pay their debts. According to the investigation, many of the loans were offered through the Facebook marketplace. The victims, generally in debt and without access to credit from financial institutions, turned to loan sharks in search of quick money. In one of the cases, a loan of R$50,000 was charged at R$200,000. The delegate warns that, in addition to abusive interest rates, the biggest risk is the violence used by criminals. "When a person is unable to pay, they start paying with their own lives. They threaten family members, go armed to the victims' homes and spread fear. We had a woman who had to be rescued by the police because she was about to take her own life in the face of threats", he says. Investigations continue to identify others involved and analyze the material seized during the operation. Civil Police operation arrested eight suspects in Gravataí Civil Police/Disclosure VIDEOS: Everything about RS