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A 25-year-old man stole a tractor in Júlio de Castilhos (RS) and drove the machine for two days without sleeping on highway BR-480 until he was approached by the PRF in Chapecó (SC), where he confessed that he intended to cross three states to sell the tractor in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay.
A tractor circulating on BR-480 in the early hours of Monday (4) caught the attention of truck drivers in Chapecó, in western Santa Catarina, an oddity that resulted in a report to the PRF (Federal Highway Police) and the discovery of a story that mixes theft, two days without sleep, and a plan to cross an international border driving an agricultural machine on busy highways. The PRF approached the tractor and found that the vehicle had been stolen from a rural property in Júlio de Castilhos, Rio Grande do Sul, and that the 25-year-old driver had been driving the machine for approximately two consecutive days without stopping to rest, with the aim of crossing three Brazilian states and delivering the tractor to a buyer who was already waiting for it in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. In addition to attracting attention on the highway, the suspect was also spotted by residents crossing the central area of Chapecó with the tractor, a scene that probably no Chapecó resident will soon forget.
The tractor driver did not have a CNH (National Driver’s License) and confessed to the police that he stole the machine after a disagreement with his boss on the rural property in Rio Grande do Sul. He reported that he had been assaulted by the employer, a motivation that, according to the suspect himself, would justify the theft of the tractor as a form of compensation for the treatment received, a reasoning that Brazilian law does not recognize but which highlights the emotional state of someone who decided that the best response to a work dispute would be to drive a tractor for hundreds of kilometers to another country. The police reported that the man showed signs of confusion, lack of lucidity, and disjointed accounts, a condition compatible with someone who spent two days without sleep at the wheel of a machine that does not exceed 40 km/h.
The tractor’s improbable route between RS and Paraguay
The route the suspect planned for the tractor required crossing at least three states: Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, and Paraná, a journey that would take about ten hours by car but would demand days of uninterrupted travel in an agricultural tractor with a limited top speed. Leaving Júlio de Castilhos in the center of Rio Grande do Sul, the tractor had to travel on state and federal highways until crossing the border into Santa Catarina, traversing western Santa Catarina through Chapecó, and continuing to Paraná towards the border with Paraguay in Ciudad del Este or Foz do Iguaçu, a route that under normal conditions no one would attempt with an agricultural machine. The fact that the suspect managed to cover this distance for two days before being approached raises questions about highway surveillance that allowed a stolen tractor to circulate freely for hundreds of kilometers.
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The tractor’s passage through the center of Chapecó is the most surreal chapter of the story. An agricultural machine crossing urban streets in the early morning is not an everyday sight, even in western Santa Catarina, a region where the presence of rural equipment is more common than in capitals, and residents who spotted the tractor passing through traffic lights and intersections probably wavered between confusion and disbelief. The suspect did not try to deviate from the urban area or seek less visible alternative routes, behavior that the police attribute to the state of mental confusion caused by two days without sleep and which may have contributed to him being reported by truck drivers who recognized the absurdity of the situation.
How truck drivers reported the tractor on BR-480
The PRF’s approach only happened because professional drivers circulating on BR-480 found the tractor’s presence on the highway strange and alerted the authorities. Truck drivers who share information about road conditions via radio and communication apps identified the agricultural machine traveling at a speed incompatible with the highway’s flow and alerted the PRF about the unusual situation. The report allowed the police to locate the tractor in Chapecó and carry out the approach that revealed not only the theft of the machine but the entire plot that included an international crossing and a pre-arranged buyer in Paraguay.
The collaboration of the truck drivers was decisive because the tractor could have continued its journey for more hours or days without being intercepted. The reduced speed of the agricultural machine does not generate the type of infraction that radars automatically detect, and the presence of tractors on rural highways, although regulated, is not so uncommon as to trigger immediate inspection in all cases. Without the attention of professional drivers who noticed that something was wrong, the stolen tractor could have reached Paraná or even the border with Paraguay before any authority became aware.
What happened to the suspect and the tractor after the approach
The 25-year-old man was taken to the Civil Police of Chapecó, which opened an investigation to look into the theft of the tractor and the circumstances that led to the plan to cross into Paraguay. The existence of a buyer waiting in Ciudad del Este indicates that the theft was not an impulsive act but a planned operation with a predetermined destination and price, an element that may worsen the suspect’s legal situation by constituting an association with the reception of a stolen vehicle in foreign territory. The tractor will be returned to its owner in Júlio de Castilhos after police proceedings, and the suspect will face charges of qualified theft and driving without a license.
The story of the tractor that almost reached Paraguay is one of those that seem like fiction but that the reality of rural Brazil produces with regularity that surprises those unfamiliar with rural dynamics. The combination of labor disputes, easy access to high-value agricultural machinery, extensive borders, and demand for equipment in Paraguay creates a condition that facilitates crimes like the one the suspect attempted to commit, and the distance between the theft location and the international border can be covered even by tractor if the driver is willing to stay awake for days at the wheel. The case is a warning to rural owners about the vulnerability of machines parked on properties where access is not always controlled.
And you, can you imagine someone driving a tractor for two days to Paraguay? Have you seen anything similar on the highways? Leave your opinion in the comments.
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