A man sentenced to six years in prison for rape in Bahia was arrested during a carnival block in São Paulo on Saturday, thanks to the Smart Sampa facial recognition system. José Helio Santos Gusmão, 41, was identified on Rua Édison in Campo Belo, in the city's south zone. The Metropolitan Civil Guard carried out the arrest after an alert from the equipment.
José Helio Santos Gusmão, 41, from Vitória da Conquista in Bahia, was sentenced by Bahia's Justice to six years in prison for rape. The arrest warrant was issued on July 30, 2025, by the Bahia State Court of Justice (TJBA). On Saturday, February 7, 2026, during the parade of the Ose block on Rua Édison in the Campo Belo neighborhood, south zone of São Paulo, Gusmão's face was recognized by a Smart Sampa camera, the city's municipal monitoring system.
The alert was immediately forwarded to the Metropolitan Civil Guard (GCM), which sent a team to the scene. The agents approached and detained the suspect among the revelers. Gusmão was taken to the 27th Police District, also in Campo Belo, where the case was recorded as the capture of a Justice fugitive. The defense of the prisoner was not located by the report.
Smart Sampa is a security program coordinated by the Municipal Secretariat of Urban Security, with over 40,000 integrated public and private cameras. The system recognizes faces of convicts and fugitives, as well as stolen vehicle plates and incidents like intrusions. It is the main initiative in this area under Mayor Ricardo Nunes (MDB)'s administration, contributing to Civil Police investigations and Military Police actions.
The arrest took place on the first day of São Paulo's pre-carnival, highlighting the use of technology in large crowd events like street blocks.
