Football Referee Arrested Mid-Match as Police Storm Pitch in Bulletproof Vests

A football match in Brazil came to an abrupt stop over the weekend when police officers in bulletproof vests stormed the pitch and arrested the referee.

Fans and players were stunned as the match official, Ederson Carlos da Silva, 38, was led away in handcuffs by multiple officers.

Da Silva had just shown a yellow card for a rough tackle during a lower-league game in Guarujá on Sunday when he was apprehended. He is reportedly suspected of being involved in a drug trafficking operation.

According to Glaucus Silva, the Civil Police chief in Guarujá, authorities were able to track Da Silva through his social media activity.

Silva told Brazilian news outlet g1: “He is a person who has a very active social life, so he was someone who was already on the radar.”

The investigation into the drug-trafficking network intensified in November last year after authorities seized a truck carrying 450kg of cocaine in São Paulo.

The truck’s driver and passenger were arrested at the scene. Further investigations led police to suspect that Ederson Carlos da Silva was in charge of the logistics operations for the trafficking ring, according to Eduardo Camargo, head of the Narcotics Investigations Police Station.

Local reports indicate that police are still searching for six other individuals connected to the case.

Watch the video below..

⏭️ O árbitro Ederson Carlos da Silva, de 38 anos, foi preso no sábado (22) durante uma partida de futebol de várzea no Guarujá (SP). Procurado por tráfico de drogas, ele tinha mandado de prisão preventiva. A abordagem foi gravada e viralizou nas redes sociais.

🎥… pic.twitter.com/ZcdURW2gD2

— AM POST (@portalampost) June 24, 2025