Cops have launched an investigation into this glamorous woman who flaunted her life of luxury allegedly paid for with laundered money and the proceeds from the estate of a drug kingpin shot dead in 2019.

Cops in the Brazilian states of Rio de Janeiro and Santa Catarina launched the investigation into Carla Oliveira de Melo and others including a former special-operations cop on 14th April.

The operation, dubbed ‘Operation Queen of Hearts’, hopes to bring to justice former associates of drug trafficker Leo do Aco, who was shot dead outside a motel in Rio de Janeiro in 2019, two years after he accepted a plea bargain.

Carla and others are accused of opening shell corporations to launder money and of setting up a network to pass on sensitive police information to drug traffickers.

Cops believe Carla and other alleged frontmen have laundered some BRL 15 million (GBP 1.9 million) since 2019, and Carla is suspected of managing the deceased Leo’s estate.

Nine search and seizure warrants have currently been issued, including at the luxury property Carla had moved to in an upscale neighbourhood of the city of Florianopolis.

No arrest warrants have currently been issued. However, the freezing of assets worth BRL 7.4 million (GBP 949,956) belonging to the suspects has been ordered.

The team behind the operation has said that the suspects flaunted their lives of luxury on social media, posting photos of themselves on speedboats, jet skis, Harley Davidsons, in convertible cars and on trips abroad.

The suspects being investigated include Silvestre Andre da Silva Felizardo, who is Carla’s ex-husband, and an ex-policeman from the elite BOPE police tactical unit.

The former officer is accused of passing on inside information to drug traffickers in exchange for cash, and it is not clear if he is the same officer Leo do Aco claimed he paid up to BRL 70,000 (GBP 8,986) weekly in exchange for inside info and for turning a blind eye to his group’s criminal activities in 2017.

Another woman, named as Hanna de Oliveira, is accused of fronting the group’s criminal activities.

The police are currently compiling evidence of the suspects’ financial wrongdoing.

Among the alleged shell corporations are a disposable materials company, which moved BRL 2.5 million (GBP 320,901) in the last three years, and a speedboat rental agency, launched in December last year, with capital of BRL 800,000 (GBP 102,688).

The investigation continues.