Over 100 solid gold bars — worth more than £8m — were seized from an influencer and her businessman husband during a traffic stop.
The Federal Highway Police (PRF) have described the bust as the “largest gold seizure in Brazil’s history”.
Suzy Alencar, Bruno Mendes de Jesus, and their nine-month-old son were in the vehicle when it was stopped on Monday (4 Aug).
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PRF officer Rodrigo Magno told local media: “We carried out the stop and, upon inspecting the inside of the vehicle, noticed signs that some parts had been tampered with.
“This prompted us to conduct a more thorough search.”
Officers initially found a small quantity of gold, but as the search progressed, they uncovered more — hidden in the dashboard and other compartments.
Bruno, 30, was arrested at the scene on the BR-401 motorway in Boa Vista, deep in the Amazon jungle, but “refused to make a statement”.
Suzy was released and, at the time of reporting, had not been formally charged.
The seized haul — weighing 103 kg (227 lb) — is worth around 61m BRL (£8.32m) according to the current Central Bank of Brazil rate.
Police are now investigating the gold’s origin and destination, as reported by Need To Know.
Suzy has tens of thousands of followers on social media, where she shares motherhood, fashion, and everyday moments.
Bruno’s lawyer, Smiller Rodrigues de Carvalho, said his client is a “first-time offender with a clean record” and the “sole provider for his family, which is in a vulnerable social situation”.
He added: “He is a worker who, like thousands of Brazilians, is involved in the mining sector — an industry that, despite operating in areas with regulatory challenges, remains for many their main source of income and the only means of survival.
“What the law prohibits is the exploitation of mineral resources without legal authorisation and without complying with environmental and tax obligations; it is the lack of proper documentation that turns the activity into an administrative or criminal offence — not the mining itself, which is a long-standing and deeply rooted reality in many parts of Brazil.”
He stressed that Bruno has “no involvement with criminal organisations or activities that threaten public order”.
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