On camera: 60-year-old pilot arrested on plane in Brazil for ‘paying families to sell him children’

A 60-year-old pilot was apprehended on board a LATAM Airlines plane after he allegedly paid families large sums of money to gain access to their children while operating a paedophile ring. Sergio Antonio Lopes – a married father of two who had just returned from his honeymoon with his new wife – was taken away in handcuffs shortly before take-off on Monday at Congonhas Airport in São Paulo, according to The Mirror.

Authorities said the arrest was deliberately carried out at the airport as Lopes is a frequent flyer and was difficult to locate at his residence in Guararema, a town in the metropolitan region of São Paulo state.

According to police, Lopes’s new wife, a psychologist, was left shocked after learning about his alleged structured network involving the exploitation of children and adolescents. Authorities said her involvement in the racket has been ruled out.

The Mirror report further stated that Lopes is suspected of leading an organised network allegedly involved in the sexual abuse and exploitation of children and adolescents, which investigators believe had been operating for at least eight years. Police allege that he used forged identity documents to take minors to motels, where the abuse took place.

Speaking at a press conference, police chief Ivalda Aleixo, head of the State Department of Homicides and Protection of Persons (DHPP), said that abuse occurred whenever Lopes had physical contact with the victims.